Celebration

Sunday afternoon we headed over to Sebastian and Mindy's house to help celebrate their birthday's. They both have December birthday's that often get lost in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas holiday. This year Mindy's mom was in town from New York and cooked up a storm for whoever could come over.  She cooked a bunch of Koren food and Sebastian BBQ'd a lot of meat.  We all ate until we couldn't anymore!  Cannon learned how to use chopsticks, thanks to Mindy's patient teaching.  He picked up on it very quickly and was quite proud of himself.  Mindy gave us some chopsticks to bring home!
The boys had a great time playing inside and outside.  We enjoyed sitting around, talking and watching the Seahawks.  It was a fun time celebrating some really special people!

Enjoying every moment!

Christmas 2014 Memories

Hello Christmas 2014!

We are so glad you are here.  I love this time of year, filled with the excitement of the holidays.  I love seeing the boys so excited.  I remember just how I felt as a kid and it's wonderful to witness it through my kids.

Here are a few photos from the day.

The tree all ready for the boys to come down when they wake up.  

Cannon and Colson looking at the cookie plate and discussing what Santa ate, what the reindeer ate and what was left.  

 A quick picture before all the frenzy of opening gifts.  

Colson doesn't look happy here but I assure you he was happy all morning long.  He loved all of the gifts and would even say just that..."I love this!"  He would walk around and show everyone his gifts, which is what he was doing here.  Showing grandma and grandpa his new books.  

A bit blurry, but it shows some of the mess that occurs as presents get opened.  And we were pretty good at picking up this year!  

After a yummy brunch of breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls, we headed out to the property to show Grandma and Grandpa and Karin.  It was a beautiful day and it was fun to tromp around and check things out.   

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and the boys got to enjoy their new gifts.  Colson and Cannon both received some great building and Lego things.  And both boys got tablets.  Cannon is playing Colson's in this picture.  

We sat down for a great ham dinner and had a good time just hanging out at the table, taking our time and enjoying the dinner.  We were too full to eat dessert!  After the boys headed to bed, we sat down to watch a movie we rented from Redbox:  When the Game Stands Tall.  It was a good movie, based on a true story.

Perfect day.

Enjoying every moment.

Cookie Decorating

The holiday season isn't complete without a bit of cookie decorating!  Grandma Kathy brought over some gingerbread dough for the boys to roll out and bake.  She also pre-made sugar cookies so the boys could decorate them.  

They found out it was kind of tough to roll out the gingerbread dough after it had been in the refrigerator.  But they both stuck with it and with Grandma's help, they got the dough rolled out to the correct thickness.  They liked to use the cookie cutter and each made a few gingerbread boys.  As Cannon was lifting one of his gingerbread boys up with the spatula, one of the arms tore a bit.  So he asked if it would be okay to have a "one-arm gingerbread boy."  So he ate the dough of the one arm!  

As the gingerbread boys were baking, they decorated the sugar cookies.  I loved watching the concentration on their faces.  Colson needed some help to frost the cookies but he loved putting on the sprinkles.  Cannon did a great job all by himself.  

What a great tradition.  And a few of these were chosen to set out for Santa!  Made with love...

Enjoying every moment.

Visiting the North Pole

Monday we enjoyed a family day and took the kids to the "North Pole" at the fair grounds in Puyallup.  They had Santa pictures available and there was a number of kids activities for the boys. Cannon loved the bouncy houses and found a friend from school to hang out with.  They bounced for a long time and Cannon came out sweaty and red-faced!  (Yes, this was before Santa pictures!) Another favorite was the Lego table. They boys were in awe of the amount of Legos on the table and loved looking at the Lego display.  Colson really enjoyed the large tubs of kinetic sand.  It was a cool type of sand that was squishy.  Both boys played with this, but this is where Colson spent all of his time while Cannon was bouncing.  Fun times!

Tired from playing, but still have to wait to see Santa.

Writing letters to Santa and then mailing them.

Writing his name on the "nice" list.  

Cannon found a cannon.  Of course we had to get a picture of the two together!

Enjoying every moment.

Ugly Sweater Day

Ugly Sweater Day.
Fun.
Lots of laughs.
Great spirit.
Too funny!
Great memories.
Staff team building.
The students love it!

Mountain Meadow is a great place to be!
Enjoying every moment!

A Little Holiday Fun!

The week before Winter Break is always an exciting time.  The kids are on a high and really, so are the teachers.  I think we are just trying to survive until Friday at 3:25!  The last days of break this year were chalk full of activities.

It's been a tradition at Mt. Meadow to have a Winter Workshop for all of the kids.  The teachers and may support staff each open their rooms for kids to complete a craft.  Students sign up and then for an hour, we each have about 20 or less kids of all ages doing a craft.  It's a great memory for the students, who love to head out of their classrooms and go somewhere else.  I had a good group of kids who were very mellow.  They all worked hard on their craft.  We had Christmas music playing and then finished the hour off with a holiday story.  Good times.

My Winter Workshop group working on their trees.  They also made a reindeer. 

My third graders holding up their projects.  Some of them didn't have theirs back yet because they were drying!  

 Cannon signed up for Mrs. Timberman's project.  They made Elf Donuts out of cheerios.  He loved it and wants to make more at home!

Enjoying every moment!

A Night Away

Saturday night was The Truss Company Christmas party.  This is a fun event because it's held at the Tulalip Casino and the company pays for our room for the night, too.  The casino is nice for those who like to gamble (and smell like smoke).  The hotel is amazing and the rooms are fabulous.  Chris and I use this time as a night off from kids.  We love being away, even if only for one night, enjoying ourselves while the kids have a great time with Granny Joy.

The Christmas party was very nice and of course, the food was superb.  That is one of the best parts...a meal where you are waited on and don't have to clean up a thing!  This year, they had raffle prizes to give away.  There was quite a few prizes including gift cards, booze, wine, some small technology things, and a treat basket.  The grand prize was a 42" flat screen TV.  It was fun anticipating our number being drawn....which it eventually was.  Chris got a nice basket with some fancy treats (truffles, chocolate almonds, cookies, etc.)  I got a gift card to Red Robin.  We didn't win the TV, but that's okay!

What a nice overnight stay.  We relaxed.  We watched some TV.  We enjoyed the Christmas party.  I didn't have to clean, do laundry or make any meals!
 

Enjoying every moment.

The Simple Life

I've written about this before but it's worth noting again...

As I reflect on the busyness of this time of year, I'm so very thankful for the simple things.
It's these "things" that make us happy.
These simple times....moments....activities....are what we remember.
It's who were are as a family.
They are calming and bring us back to what's really important.
These times are what we are thankful for each night as we are counting our blessings.

Cannon and Chris reading his library book.  It was a HUGE book 

about how things work.  They were reading about how an engine works.

Colson asked for a veggie tray.  How can you say no to that!?

He climbed on the counter and ate off the plate as I was 

making it!  He must have been hungry!

Cannon doesn't like his picture taken.  So when I can get him to 

stop and pose for an impromptu picture, I am a happy camper!  

Hanging out together on the living room floor.  Colson likes to 

scroll through the photos on our phones...and so do we!  

Cannon playing the tablet.  

Enjoying every moment.