O Christmas Tree

And speaking of our Christmas tree, ours is still up, decorated, lights UNPLUGGED, at home while we are in San Diego. I guess I'll be taking it down in February this year!

This is our annual tradition to go find a tree and cut it down. We went to Hubert's again this year, it will be our last. We are constantly annoyed that you can only buy tagged trees. Do you know how many we saw that we would've liked to buy? Owell, we finally came back to our (well, Chad's) first choice which was a pine. I'm not so fond of pines (at least for Christmas trees, that is) but our deal was that if we got a pine this year that we would never have to get a pine again. I think I may have gotten the better deal on that one...

December past

baking with the kids

The kids love helping me make cookies. In fact, if I don't want their help, I pretty much have to be alone in the house or they have to be napping, that is how much they adore it. They will drag chairs over to the mixer, they will point at their aprons, and they will beg. How could a mother not resist. And really, what type of mom would I be if I didn't let them lick the beaters either???

misc pictures (from breakfast one morning)



snow

I loved this picture that Chad took of Abby out in the first snow of the year.

The next day after than first snow we attempted to take a walk but it was so bitter cold that Abby and I only made it to the neighbors house! Jamie and Chad walked to the park and back while Abby and I went back inside!

Holiday portraits

So, it's catch up time. You should see a bunch of holiday posts coming soon!

This year I took the kids to Tacoma for the day and we got their portraits taken at Tacoma mall. They did SO much better than last year, I was really quite impressed. Jamie was such a ham for the camera. Abby was really shy at first but then I figured out that all I had to do was play peek-a-boo behind the photographer!

holiday baking

I've been busy making cookies and treats! See for yourself:





I hope I get to share some with you!

sledding! *updated with video

We had so much fun sledding today with Pat&Kristy and Lulu, this was the first time the kids have ever been sledding. We did our sledding down at the park and it worked out nice for the little kids. Chad decided to do the double diamond run, he went way up on the hill above the playground and well, see for yourself:


and here's a few more videos from the day:




Walking to the park:

Abby and Ninja Lulu:

The girls were so cute going down the hill by themselves (but boy were they heavy to lug back up!)
thankfully Jamie could bring his own sled back up:
Pat's turn!
My turn!!
Getting a nice push:
Chad was so happy to get off work at 2!
Jamie had such a good time "racing" the girls (he usually won and he'd be like "I won, I won!"), get ready, get set, go!!Abby and mama:
It's starting to get a bit late, look at those rosy cheeks:
and Abby's getting a bit too cold:

Looks like we'll probably get another to go again tomorrow or this weekend, yay!