New Year's Eve at the Cabin with the Adams Family

We got to spend the New Year's weekend with Meg and Chris and their boys. Eben and Chris fine-tuned the sledding run and added one more string of twinkle lights down the far end of the run.

 We woke up early New Year's Eve to go skiing. Brrrr - it was cold up there and we only skied a couple hours, but it was a gorgeous bluebird day. Afterwards we came back to the cabin for lunch and the UW Husky football game (national championship playoffs). And, special treat, we also got to watch a family of five deer just out the window.

 

And the kids each waxed creative and made their own gingerbread houses.

Stay-cation

Eben has been working this working this week, but getting off earlier than usual. So, we've turned this week into a stay-cation around Seattle. On Tuesday we went to the new Star Wars movie, Rogue One. On Wednesday, a semi-sunny day rarity, we went to the Woodland Park Zoo and actually were able to see quite a few animals.

 

 On Thursday we met up with Sara Clarke and her two boys: Oliver and Charlie for a morning at the Children's Museum and the afternoon swimming at her hotel's pool. It was SO fabulous to catch up with Sara after a year-and-a-half since our last get together. And the kids had a lot of fun playing together.

Christmas!

The kids were very excited for Christmas morning to arrive. Edison awoke about 4:00 AM and we had to kindly ask him to return to his bed and wait a couple more hours. Charlotte had lost a tooth on Christmas Eve, so we actually had visits from both Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy that night! What a treat! Santa had stuffed all of our stockings full of DVDs for the cabin and sweet treats.

 Santa also gave each of us some puzzle pieces. When we put them all together, it revealed a picture of Great Wolf Lodge, the water slide park / hotel 90 minutes from here. Santa got us a trip to Great Wolf Lodge this year! Yay!!!! We are so excited!

 Charlotte is ready to rock and roll in a new bike helmet.

 Reed is rocking on the ukelele.

 We had my mom's side of the family over for Christmas day: Bonnie, Kirstie and Peter, and Jennie and Pete and their three kids. Look at baby Roland - what a BIG smile on his first Christmas!

 A number of people were out of town, so it was a smaller than usual gathering and the kids had the good fortunate of not being stuck at the kiddie table. After the Christmas meal we went for a refreshing walk followed by the kids' presents (so many generous gifts from aunts and uncles and Nana), and the grown ups' gift exchange. This year the theme was glass and Eben ended up with a cool glass thermometer with the floating glass balls for different temperatures and I received a book about female astronomer assistants and mathematicians called the Glass Universe. What a lovely and relaxing day to spend with family. The guys capped off the night with a splash in the hot tub while we ladies played a marathon game of Sorry!

Christmas Eve!

We celebrated Christmas Eve by attending the Christmas Pageant at Grand Daddy's church. We were able to spend the evening with his friend Marsha, too. He did an excellent job sharing in the reading of the pageant's verses and the kids loved singing along to all the different Christmas carols.

 

 

 

These kids are super excited to open presents!

 

What a celebration we had! We opened presents also from Auntie Paige and Uncle Matt and Aunt Perry as they are all on my father's side of the family. These kids were showered with love (in the form of presents) by the people who love them. What a joyful Christmas!

 

Preparing for Christmas

We prepared for Christmas by making traditional Norwegian flour lefse under the guidance of Auntie Kirstie. All three kids were very helpful and we were especially proud of Reed!

 

Edison worked on his lefse flipping skills with the lefse stick.

 We also were able to visit and play with Alton and Evie at Auntie Jennie's house.

 

 

And we managed to sneak away to the cabin for a few days just before Christmas. It is super snug under its blanket of snow. This view shows the new outdoor porch.

 Reed's been busy working on puzzles.

 And of course we did lots of sledding and skiing!

Social Studies Winter Gathering

 Other than the students, there isn't anyone else as excited for Winter Break as the teachers! Eben and I hosted a winter gathering, complete with white elephant gift swap, the Friday before winter vacation. The mood was very festive and jovial. I am so fortunate to work with these colleagues!

 

Eben and Jay - social studies spouse's club.

 

The trifecta: me with Sara and Maija.

 Playing Head's Up! Not sure what these guys were acting out but it looks like it was from the animal deck.

First Sledding of the Season

First weekend in the snow at the cabin! We had a blast setting up the sledding hill with Michael, Jenabel, and Jasper. The kids are totally into sledding and are excited to try different moves and tricks on the sleds.