Gammy and Poppy

A Visit from Grammy and Poppy is the best!



This is how you'll usually find my dad when visiting our home.... sitting at the dinning room table (away from the noise of the tv, kitchen, etc...) talking over the other goingons about current events, the crossword puzzle, or some other thing that's caught his attention at the time. I often give him a hard time about this, telling him that there are too many things going on around me at any given moment to help him solve the daily crossword puzzle from the New York Times, but secretly I love all the useless knowledge that he (and my husband alike) have stored up in those brains of theirs. I also love the constant talking he's doing in the background about many things I haven't a clue about. It kind of makes it feel like the holidays every time their around. My mom and I in the kitchen talking and cooking, the kids running amuck hopped up on sugar and spoiled with gifts, my father and husband sharing conversation and snacks in the room next door. That's the kind of thing the holidays are made of.



We took a trip to Seattle and stopped at REI for a little adventure. It was pretty limited to trying on a bunch of funny hats and checking out a lot of cool expensive stuff.





Then we went to visit our friend the troll.


Next was your typical Pike Place Market where we got to see your not so typical gals playing music on a saw... interesting.




Lastly, and to wrap up our Seattle trip, we took my parents (in celebration of my dad's birthday) to one of my favorite restaurants, Meskel Ethiopian Restaurant. SO YUMMY!


Miss you mom and dad, see you soon.

Lowes Build and Grow

Check it out, it's fun and free! Home Depot does it also.
They give you goggles and an apron to keep, and then you get a patch and a certificate for each project you complete.

Dancing in 2011

Our friends from Cleveland that happened to being living just a few blocks away from us here in WA has Rocking New Years Eve Dance Party. It was a great way to welcome in the year!



Charlee didnt quite make it till midnight, but the rest of us didn't seem to wake her up.

kind of funny

I used to watch this

all the time when I was little and I loved it. So after screening it (it's easy to forget) we decided to let our kids watch it as well. Needless to say they all loved it and watched it MANY times over and over again. I'll never really understand why kids are able to do that.

SO when we were taking out all the Christmas ornaments for the tree Charlee came across this one

She got so excited and said Mommy look... it's PEE WEE! Travis wasn't thrilled. At least he grew out of his "PEE WEE" days.

Catching up on Christmas

We made a gingerbread village and went to the class Christmas parties. Let me just say a couple things in regards to the following. First of all, while the homemade gingerbread does taste MUCH better, it's a huge pain in the rear. Next time I think we'll go back to buying the kit. Secondly, it's crazy how much the actually celebrate Christmas in these liberal WA schools. In Ohio it was always winter parties and books about snowmen. I was really surprised how many Christmas themed crafts and stories were covered through the whole month of December. I guess I just found it overall... interesting... and fun.

Dillon's teacher is so sweet. Here she is handing out stockings to all the kids that they made and she stuffed. They hung over the classroom "fireplace" all month.






In Molly's class they made gingerbread lighthouses. I went in and cooked up all the gingerbread for the class, which gave me the courage to do it for my kids as well.



They turned out really cute (Dillon wanted his fairly plain) the biggest pain was measuring everything out so precisely so it would all fit together in the end.




This is the kids in their Christmas outfits. Can you tell they're freezing and not at all happy that I'm making them stand outside with no coats while I take this picture? There were threats and bribes involved... they still wouldn't really smile.





The annual picture with Santa. It will have to do.




Grandma treated Molly to her first time to see The Nutcracker. She enjoyed it for the most part and I managed to stay awake. Win, win situation. (the red was not planned, I guess it's just one of those Christmas things)




Grandma and Papa with the kids at some huge trail of lights in the middle of no where. It was pretty neat... and cold.





Christmas Eve with the Yonker Family at Aunt Jordanna's House.






Christmas Morning at our house.











Christmas Day at GG's House.


Boy are these kids spoiled.

Even Trav and I got a new ride.

Merry Christmas Every One!