Christmas Fun!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! We love this Christmas season and all that it brings with it (except maybe the traffic and crowds - and the week filled with flu this year). Besides that, we love the excitement, anticipation and family traditions. Some of the fun included:

Snowflake Lane
The night before Christmas Eve, we headed down to see the Snowflake Lane presentation. For approximately 20 minutes, the streets of downtown Bellevue are filled with real drummer boys, a Snow Princess and Rudolph, festive music, and "snow" falling from the building tops. We were more prepared this year and headed in early. It gets so crowded that there is almost no room to stand. We got there early and staked out our spot. Our friends, the McAllisters, came along for their first visit and the kids had a great time. The weather was a little chilly, but dry and windy - perfect conditions for falling snow bubbles! Add on a frosty at Wendy's on the way home = fun, festive evening.




O Christmas Tree!

For the past 3 years, we have bought out Christmas tree at a local tree lot by our house. This year, Avery said that she would rather get the tree from Costco so that her shoes didn't get dirty. What? The tree lot has pre-cut trees with beauty bark covering the ground. Well, rather than Costco or the tree lot, we went to a U-Cut tree farm this year. Due to price, we bypassed the Grand Firs that we love, and picked out a nice big Douglas Fir instead. We went more for quantity than quality. But, we still got a beautiful tree. The kids loved running through the rows of trees.

Avery and Owen helping Jason to saw down the tree. :)

It took us a few days to get the decorating finished, which is what Avery had really been looking forward to. She and Jason put all of the decorations on. They were careful to put only non-breakable ornaments on the bottom half of the tree, but Owen was actually very good about leaving the tree alone.

Fortunately, Owen was more preoccupied by the vacuum while decorating.

Adding the angel on top

A Visit with Santa

We went to a Christmas Breakfast at church a few weeks before Christmas. Santa came to visit and Avery was very excited to see him. Owen... not so much. It makes for a great picture though, right?

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with Jason's family at his Mom's house. It was nice to visit

Grandma Pynn and Uncle Nathan, as well as Jason's Oma, Aunt and Uncles. The kids were spoiled and had a great time playing with toys. Owen took a little while to warm up, but anyone with a little bit of food is able to break the ice with him. Spending time with family is the best part of the Christmas holiday.

Avery and Owen with Grandma Pynn

Owen opening up his Lego dump truck.

After we got home, we still had to set out milk and cookies for Santa. Avery was positive that he would like chocolate chip cookies. After all, those are her favorite! Then we had our traditional reading of our Silent Night, Holy Night book. It's nice to end the evening with a reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.

Christmas Morning!

Christmas morning was a nice, slow morning. The kids slept until 9:30 (don't worry, we realize that this won't last long). We had some hot chocolate, opened stockings and gifts, played with new toys, and enjoyed a quiet morning. Later in the day, Uncle Rob and Aunt Dooda came over with Delaynie to Grandma and Papa Thompson's house and we had a big family dinner. It was certainly a fun-filled holiday!!

Coming down the stairs...

Owen couldn't wait to eat the orange out of his stocking...

Owen - happily eating his way through Christmas morning.

Jason opening his thoughtful gift from Avery: Kids 2-in-1 Cherry shampoo. He had commented that he really liked the smell a few months earlier, and Avery knew that he would love it!

Avery's favorite gift of the morning: a storybook that reads to her three of her favorite Disney stories.

Owen's favorite gift: a vacuum cleaner from Aunt Dooda!

Owen really got into the unwrapping this year.

We bought Avery a "make-it and love-it" Build-A-Bear. This is what I spent my Christmas afternoon working on...

While she waited, Avery sat in this box for almost an hour playing with her new doll.

We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas season filled with family, friends, and special memories!

No More Reindeer Jumping on the Bed!

On Friday night, Avery performed in her first official "dance recital". She just finished her Intro to Ballet/Tap class this week, and she had a fabulous time! There were 10 little girls in her class and they spent 8 weeks in class together. It was fun to watch her do the ballet stretches at the barr and clop around in her tap shoes. The teacher had a special recital for all of her "younger classes". Each class just did 1 short little song. Avery's group had the fun dance of "No More Reindeer Jumping on the Bed" and they really got into it! It was very cute.

Avery playing with her costume as she waited for the music.

In starting position...

They all shouted "No more reindeer jumping on the bed!" as they shook their finger to the music. (Avery is on the far left.)

Good Job, Avery!

Avery's Turkey Trot

Earlier this month, Avery participated in her second race. She ran the Kid's 1K Fun Run at this year's Turkey Trot. She had participated in a similar race for St Patrick's Day last March. While she didn't really mind the running, that's not what made her want to do it again. She fell in love with her finisher's medal! Her face shone as brightly as the gold around her neck. Once she earned her first medal, she was itching to run another race. She has been looking forward to this Turkey Trot ever since her last race. Hopefully, someday, she will enjoy the race for the sheer love of running and being fit, but for now, it's the means to an end. :)

She did a fantastic job and ran the whole way. Good job, Avery Girl!

Boo!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween is much more fun when you have kids. Some may not agree, but I enjoy it more. Avery spends hours on her costume - she plans, decides, changes her mind, plans, changes her mind again, etc. She finally settled on being a horse once we found "just the right costume" at the consignment shop. I actually branched out and made Owen his costume this year. He was Peter Pan, although Jason says he outfit looks more like Robin Hood. Either way, he was incredibly cute!

We started out the weekend with a party at our church building. Avery enjoyed playing the games, face painting, and wandering from room to room for the treats. Owen enjoyed eating the candy.

On the night of Halloween, we visited just a few houses. We went to Grandma and Papa Thompson's to show off the costumes and trick-or-treat. We stopped at a few friends' homes and then headed to Grandma Pynn's house. There the kids loaded up on candy. Luckily, we've all been enjoyed the fruits of their labors! :)

"Take another one? Well OK, if you insist."

The Pumpkin Patch

What would Autumn be without a trip to the Pumpkin Patch?

In mid-October, we had the chance to go to a local pumpkin patch with Avery's preschool group. While it wasn't the most beautiful weather that week, we lucked out with a fairly clear, crisp morning. The kids were very excited and couldn't wait to find the perfect pumpkin. They rode in wheelbarrows, ran through the patch, and checked out virtually every pumpkin there. I had Owen in the backpack almost the entire time. I didn't want to deal with him running around. Turns out, he LOVED riding in the wheelbarrow! Had I known that, I would have lightened my load and put him in there a lot earlier in the trip.

After we selected our pumpkins, the kids checked out a few animals and had a blast running through the hay maze. The bales of straw were old, wet and mildewy on the inside, but I think Avery ran through that stinky maze for 40 minutes. Hours later, as Jason was sitting near her on the couch, he couldn't figure out what smelled so funny. Turns out, it was the sweater she still had on. Aaawwwww, the joy of Fall!