DECEMBER - Holiday Festivities

December kicked off with advent calendars from Nana. Check out Charlotte's crazy bed head!

Nana and I took the kids to a play at the Seattle Children's Theater and then we spent time walking around the Seattle Center's "Winterfest" displays, like this life-sized Christmas card.

 Charlotte practiced using her "ice powers" like Elsa to control the fountain.

 On Sunday we had Meg, Chris and Bill over for the Seahawks game. The kids asked to make holiday cookies, which is looking like it might turn into a tradition.

 

Meanwhile, the guys hung out with the babies and watched the game.

Thanksgiving Weekend

The kids were very proud of displaying all their Thanksgiving arts and crafts. Sadly I missed taking pictures of both our meal with Granddaddy Herbert the day before Thanksgiving and of our Thanksgiving feast at Aunt Kirstie's house. But - both were delicious!

 We went out to the cabin for the weekend following Thanksgiving. Much better than Black Friday at the mall.

 We enjoyed going for walks each day, taking the jogging stroller in case Charlotte got tired.

 

And Reed can walk!

Great Wolf Lodge Waterpark

We decided to celebrate Eben's return with a mini-vacation: an overnight to Great Wolf Lodge and Water Park. Basically it is an indoor water park with a hotel and mini-resort totally geared towards families attached. We were dreading crowds and figuring out how it all worked, but it went really smoothly and we all had an amazing time. The kids were giddy with delight the whole time. My mom helped us out by joining us and taking care of Reed so we could take Edison and Charlotte on the slides. Eben and I even got a night out on the big slides after the kids went to bed. The pictures aren't great because we used an old school 35 mm underwater camera and it didn't have a flash. Darn!

 The room had a fun "kids' camp" theme with a separate room for the kids complete with bunk beds - their favorite!

We all enjoyed a yummy breakfast buffet in the morning. It was perfect to stock us up for a second day of swimming.

Fall Leaves

Eben is back for the rest of this tour! Yay! And - Reed can walk now! Double yay!!

In this video, he's been stringing a few steps together for about a week - Charlotte is his best motivator.

We have been enjoying dry, cool weather. Perfect fall days for the playground. Reed can mosey around and do some of the toys now, which is fun.

We spent a sunny day raking up leaves in the backyard and making leaf piles.

NOVEMBER - Swimming, The Beach, and Nana!

November has started out pretty rainy. So we've had to make our own fun. Charlotte has enjoyed playing dress up with her new party shoes. We have also spent time the last couple weekends at Nana's pool - so fun!

This past Saturday was a rare sunny day, so we had to take advantage of it. We headed over to Edmonds, played on the beach and rode the ferry back-and-forth to Kingston. Being on the water again and breathing in the crisp air just buoys up my soul and it was totally worth heading over there.

 

 

There was this neat 3-D map of Washington on the ferry. The kids could locate places they knew and ask questions about others. It was a really neat teaching tool.

After the ferry ride we spent some time playing on the beach. It was 60 degrees and amazing weather for this time of year.

 

That afternoon we went swimming at Nana's again and then over to Kirstie's for my mom's birthday party. Happy Birthday, Nana! The kids had baked a cake and cupcakes for the occasion and were very proud of them - they actually were really good!  

 

Happy Halloween!

 We headed up to Everett to spend the evening with the Adams Family. Lots of Star Wars here: Edison - Obi Wan Kenobi, Charlotte - Princess Leia, Reed - Yoda, Dillon - General Grevious, Liam - Spidarman (upcoming cameo in Star Wars?).

 

Where is Han? Stuck at work - again :-(

 It was fun to break out the Leia costume and braids and be twins with Charlotte.

It was a great night. After an all-day downpour, the rain subsided and the kids had a blast trick-or-treating through the neighborhood. I think they've finally gotten down saying "thank you" as they leave and going up to each door by themselves. I wonder what next year will bring. When interviewed today: Edison says he wants to be Darth Vadar and Charlotte is hoping to be Princess Elsa from Frozen.

Edison's Kindergarten Halloween Party

 Eben spent Monday here before heading back to the Bay Area. We had dinner outside and a nice fire at the end of the day. The kids loved toasting marshmallows, too.

 Reed loves the stairs. Climbing them, going down them, sitting on them - really, anything to do with stairs. Even when we close the gate, he just sits on the base stair and surveys the room.

 The benefits of our move to Lake Forest Park are starting to pay off. I took off an hour of work at the end of the day Friday and was able to volunteer in Edison's kindergarten classroom for their Halloween party. The school also does a fun "parade" through the school as part of their celebration.

 Class picture! Wonder what these kids will look like in 13 years when they are wrapping up high school at Shorecrest... My favorite costume? The pink Care Bear in the front - or maybe the flamingo.

 

Edison was Obi Wan Kenobi - kind of hard to tell when light sabers are not allowed at school.

 With his new best buds (and secret ninjas): Zach and Cosmo.