Christmas 2014

This week was Christmas and in the days leading up to the big day, Christmas festivities were in full swing.

Monday night those of us still in Oregon (Emily and Kai had gone home that morning) went out to the sticks for an amazing light and decoration display put on by a local church.  In addition to the displays they had a light show, a musical performance, hot chocolate and cider, and apparently it snowed but we missed that part.  It was no Temple lights, but the true Spirit of Christmas could still be felt.

We were back together Wednesday for our traditional Christmas eve.  We re-enacted the nativity story found in Luke 2 and exchanged presents with Nana and Papa.  Carrigan had not had a nap that day and was beyond grumpy so there are no pictures of her, but here is Merrick with his gift and my parents with the blanket we had made for them (we also gave one to Grandpa and Lollie,but alas I don't have any pictures of them opening theirs).

After everyone went home to their respective houses and the little ones were all tucked in, Santa made his appearance.  Of course he filled stockings and brought some smaller gifts, but the big surprise was in the garage.  He brought new bikes for Jeremy, Merrick, and me and a new bike trailer for CC.

Christmas day was such a hit!  Merrick got Disney Infinity and when he opened it he saw the characters and said that he could not play with them because we "don't have infinity".  Once we explained to him that that is what he just opened, he was very excited.  He also got legos, Rescue Bot dinos, a ninja castle and sword, and a few other things.

The biggest hit for Carrigan was the bag of Hi-chews that Santa brought in her stocking.  She refused to put it down or open anything else at first.  I had to open most of her presents for her.  Once we got to her stroller, she decided she was excited about that but had to put her precious Hi-chews in for a ride.  Eventually she decided she was excited about other things too.  Her highlights included a "Cozy Coupe", building blocks, an art studio for the iPad, and clothes and shoes.  She particularly loves her gold shoes from Mom and Dad and her outfit from Grandpa and Lollie.

We are SO blessed!  Not only with the abundance of gifts that we received, but with the love of God and Christ and a love for each other.  It has been a wonderful holiday season!

Fun with Visitors

This week brought some very welcome visitors to our neck of the woods.  We had long since know about my parents' travel plans from India (you can read about their perilous journey here) but we also had a surprise visit from Emily and Kai.  Emily and Kai arrived Tuesday night and my parents Wednesday night and life has been a whirlwind ever since.

Thursday, in addition to spending every free moment playing, (almost) all the cousins went to the bounce house for "lights out" bouncing.

Friday we made gingerbread houses.

Yesterday was full of shopping and we ended the day with something that I have wanted to do for years now, the Christmas Ships parade.  Every year (this was the 60th year) a fleet of ships decked out in Christmas lights traverses the Colombia and Willamette Rivers in a spectacular parade for onlookers along the river banks.  It was raining last night, but that didn't stop us from braving it, and having a really great time.

Today we had everyone over for dinner and a cousin Christmas gift exchange.

Tomorrow Emily and Kai go home.  We will really miss them (Merrick especially will miss Kai), but have had a really great time making the best of the short time we did have.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

With Christmas less than two weeks away, Christmas festivities are in full swing.  Last weekend, on our way home from Seattle, we stopped in at Bass Pro Shop to visit Santa.  Let's just say he was not a hit.  Carrigan and I talked about Santa while we were in line and it was going well right up until the time we walked up to him.  Then CC lost it.  I tried sitting her on my lap and sitting next to Santa and I tried bribing her with Santa's candy, but when neither worked I decided to just plop her on his lap (I am mean like that).  The trauma lasted even after we left Santa, but as soon as we walked out of the store she said in the sweetest little voice "Taint To Santa".

Over the course of this week we got stockings hung and experienced the adventure of our first outing to a tree farm to get a real tree.

Last night we capped of the week of festivities with a trip to Zoolights.  Saying is was crowded is a gross understatement, but the weather was really nice and we had a good time despite the crowds.

This week my parents come to town and we wrap up preschool until the new year.  I can't wait.

Seattle

You may or may not have noticed that my weekly blog is a day late this week.  That is because this weekend we took a whirlwind trip to Seattle.  We had decided to go up to see Jeremy's brother, Jensen, who was in town from New York for the national tour of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.  Originally we planned to drive up Saturday morning and come home Sunday, but it turned out that Jeremy needed to go up for work so he flew out first thing Friday morning and the kids and I drove up on our own Friday afternoon.

The drive up was long and stressful, but the rest of the weekend was just about perfect.  We stayed with my cousin Kyle and his wife Carly.  The kids really loved being at their house and playing with their birds, Sherbie and Sweetie.

On Saturday we headed downtown first thing.  We met up with Jensen and saw the show.  He was able to get us AMAZING comp seats and the musical was so great.  I thought Carrigan might be scared, but she was really drawn in my the music and colors and did really well.  After the show we got a backstage tour and got our picture taken in the Grinch's sleigh.

After our visit with Jensen we were able to go see Liz, one of my best friends from high school who lives just outside Seattle.  We have not seen each other in years and between us we have had five kids since the last time we saw each other.  Her oldest son, William is just two months younger than Merrick and they had such a blast playing together.

Our fun-filled day did not end there.  We ended the evening with dinner with Kyle and Carly and a trip to downtown Redmond for Redmond City Lights, the highlight of which was a visit from one of Santa's reindeer.

Sunday morning we were up early again to pack up and go to brunch with Jensen.  He was so sweet and brought Christmas presents for the kids and we gave him (and all those we visited that weekend) some homemade root beer reindeer.

After that we headed for home.  The weekend was truly wonderful and jam packed.  I think CC would have gone for a bit more down time so she could have had a decent nap at some point, but hey that is what car rides are for right?