Holiday Happenings

We decided to take advantage of Hallie's first day of Christmas break and pack it full of holiday fun.  First off, we headed to the mall bright and early to see Santa before the line got out of control.  We have the best Santa Claus at our local mall.  I mean seriously, is this guy the real deal or what!  

 After nap time we headed to Tacoma to see "Zoolights" at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium.  It was really cold but we still had a great time.  The kids all looked so cute bundled up in their coats and hats.  We don't have very many opportunities to get bundled up around here in the winter time, so it's kind of fun to have a reason to dig out all of our winter gear and pile on the layers.  Maggie stayed pretty cozy in her bear suit!

What a fun day we had!  Every year as the kids get older it's becoming more and more fun to establish holiday traditions with our family.  We truly had a magical Christmas this year and wish you all a Merry Chistmas and Happy New Year from our family.

Thanksgiving

We made the long trek to Boise to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year.  We were there a full week and I only took a handful of pictures. Every year I get mad at myself for not taking more pictures and this year was no different.  I guess I must be too busy eating and shopping and shopping and eating and eating some more to actually pick up my camera and use it.  Besides all of the food that was consumed and the many hours spent shopping, the kids got some much needed "cousin play time"  and the adults burned off a few of our Thanksgiving dinner calories by busting a move with Just Dance 3.  We also met my Dad downtown one day at the Festival of Trees which has become one of our Boise traditions and something my kids really look forward to.  The Festival of Trees was the one day that I actually remembered to grab my camera and take some pictures. 

My sister-in-law took this cute pic of all the cousins together... love it!

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken in October by our favorite photographer... Miss Heather Mann.  She always does a great job and this time was no different.  I was worried about getting a decent picture now that we have a family of five and I knew that depending on Charlie's mood this experience could easily turn out to be a total nightmare.  Luckily, Charlie woke up on the right side of the bed that morning and he was actually very cooperative the whole time.  My goal was to get just one decent picture that we could use for a Christmas card, and we ended up with a few good ones so I was pretty excited.  I just got a few of these enlarged and hung up in our house and they look great!

Halloween

I know I claimed the pumpkin patch to be my favorite fall tradition but I must admit that trick-or-treating is also right there at the top of my list.  Hallie and Charlie were both at a great age this year and it made the night so much fun.   Hallie wanted to wear the same costume as last year (which made mommy very happy) so she was a peacock once again, Charlie was some sort of a one-eyed monster, and I never could figure out if Maggie was a chicken or a duck, but either way she was darn cute!

Pumpkin Patch

Oh this darn blog.  I feel like I'm always playing catch up with this thing, and this time I've let it go way too far.  My goal was to get caught up by the end of December, and here it is the first day of 2012 so it looks like I'm already falling behind on my resolutions!  I couldn't let 2011 end without documenting some of the fun things we've done the past few months.  Let's start with my favorite.... the pumpkin patch!

Every year when I feel fall approaching I start getting excited just knowing that we will soon be making our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  I think it is by far my favorite fall tradition. This year also marked Maggie's first experience at Maris Farms so that made it extra special.  We lucked out with a sunny Saturday morning the first weekend in October so we decided we'd better take advantage of that sunny sky and head out to the pumpkin patch.  Here's a few pictures from that fun day...