Christmas

I'm going to combine all of my Christmas posts into one so this is going to be a long one. On Monday the 22nd we had Christmas with my family at our house. I made a prime rib which I was really nervous about but it turned out really good. My friend Amy gave me a great recipe. With it we had twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole, salad, bread, and my mom made burnt cream for dessert. It was a yummy feast. Here are some pictures of the evening.



Katy holding Sam with Dutchess looking on.



Grandma Loon




Matt and Boppa





Abby and Josey opening presents.

Grandma and Grandpa got Abby a Princess Kitchen...

... and a sleeping bag with her name on it.

Jess and Katy's gift to Sam.

Mom saw this sweater on a trip to LaConner a few months ago and loved it. While she was in another shop I snuck back and got it for her. She was very surprised.


The next pictures of on Christmas Eve. The first two were taken in our front yard. We had so much snow. The rest were taken at my parents house where we had a fondue feast with Jane and Michael and Shannon.

My cousin, Shannon, and her husband Michael.

'Ant' Jane with a plague that mom got her. It says, "No rich man is ugly."

Now on to Christmas morning. It was a beautiful snowy white Christmas and we enjoyed it with the kids. Sam woke up a little after 7:00. The three of us were downstairs a little before 8:00 when I heard little feet running across the hall and down the stairs. Abby came bounding down to see the cookies, carrots, and water gone. She had filled a bowl FULL of baby carrots for the reindeer. I had made an egg casserole and some Cinnamon buns so while those were cooking we opened our gifts.

Matt took this of our back yard. Isn't it beautiful!

I can't figure out how to turn this picture around but I thought it was cute. The kids each opened new pajama's the night before so they are posing in their Christmas pj's.

Sam opening his stocking.

Dutchy got a Christmas tennis ball which she quickly destroyed. I think it lasted about 20 minutes.

Me and my kids.

Sam loved his wooden duck from Auntie Sara.

Abby opening her big gift from Santa.

A Barbie party bus! Thanks, Santa.

I forgot my camera Christmas afternoon when we went over to Matt's grandma's but we had a great time there with the whole family (those that live in Washington anyway).

Our final Christmas celebration took place after Christmas at Nana and Grandpa's. Nana made spinach manicotti, garlic bread, and spinach salad. Grandpa got to choose the dessert so of course we had chocolate ice cream. It was another great feast.

Abby and Sam before dinner.

Sam needed a cap nap before opening gifts.

Aunt Lisa and Uncle JT got the game Guess Who for Abby. Sam just wanted to chew on the wrapping.

Nana decided to give each of her kids something old and something new this year. Matt's something old was this tool bench. I love it and can't wait for Sam to be old enough to play with it.

The big hit of the night for Abby was this High School Musical Dance Mat.

We had a wonderful Christmas. It is easy to get wrapped up in all of the gifts of the season but we also took the time to remember the best gift of all in the birth of Jesus.

Santa Train

It has been a yearly tradition since Abby was two to drive out to Birch Bay for the Santa Train. It takes place at a go-cart,miniature golf park. In December it becomes a park full of lights. There are over 1 million lights in various displays throughout the park. The train ride takes about fifteen minutes and there are lights and Christmas scenes everywhere. Abby loves it. The ride ends at the North Pole with Santa welcoming the train. Abby sat on Santa's lap and when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas she said, "Fake heart earrings." I have no idea where that came from. The pictures don't really do it justice because it was pouring rain on the night we went.

Correctamundo!

This goes back to December 12 but I had to write about it. While we were in Arizona over Thanksgiving my mom bought Abby a book called Correctamundo, Prickly Pete's Guide to Desert Facts & Cactifracts. It is a great book and we have read it many times. Here is an example. "Lots of people think javelinas (hav-uh-LEE-nuz) are wild desert pigs. What do you think? FACT or CACTIFRACT?" Then on the next page it says, "If you said CACTIFRACT, perfect, professor porkologist!" The rest of the page goes on to explain all about Javelinas. There are 11 of these. After we got back I talked to Abby's teacher about having my mom come to her classroom to read the story to the kids. She thought it was a great idea. Abby was so excited. She had a t-shirt from Arizona that she wore to school that day. When my mom and I got there we wondered why Abby still had her coat on. Well, it was because she didn't want any of her classmates to see her shirt until it was time. :) My mom did a great job. She would read the question and all the kids would vote by raising their hands and then Abby told them all the right answer. It was very fun. Here are some pictures.

So Many Posts...So Little Time

I just uploaded a bunch of pictures off of my camera. After looking through each one of them I came up with 8 blog posts that I want to do. So I'm sitting here ready to post...and Sam woke up. So all you get right now is a pictureless update on our broken pipes. The fans are gone (thankfully) and we are waiting for Lynden floor to come next week and give us an estimate on the hardwood. We were very thankful that the fans could be turned off before we had my parents and Jess and Katy over for Christmas dinner (one of the 8 posts I want to get to). Sam calls so that is all for now...

The Reason We Pay For Homeowners Insurance

This morning at 3:00 Sam woke up. I'm so thankful that he did! I was in his room feeding him and I heard Dutchess whining in the laundry room. I wondered why she was whining but thought maybe she just had to go to the bathroom. After I put Sam back down I went down to check. I got down the stairs, turned the corner, took a few steps and knew why she was whining. I stepped in a puddle of water. Our outside facet had frozen and burst and was filling up the laundry room with water! It was beginning to spill out into the entryway as well. I quickly ran upstairs and woke Matt up and we spent the next 45 minutes cleaning up the water.

Matt called his cousin Travis (a plumber) and he came over to fix the pipe. We also had someone come out to assess the damage. I didn't think there was going to be that much damage because it hadn't gotten very far onto the hardwood and carpet. But, there is water damage to the hardwood. Right now there are two ways this could go. We are drying everything out with really loud fans right now and then if the damage isn't too bad we will have to have all of the hardwood refinished. That is the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is that we will have to have ALL of the hardwood replaced! Those of you who have been to our house know that there is quite a bit of hardwood. But, it would be an all of nothing deal since they won't be able to match the pattern. Here are som pictures of the living room, bathroom, and laundry room. Needless to say, we are spending the next night or two upstairs.

Thanksgivng in Arizona

I'm still behind in my blog posts. We went to Tucson for Thanksgiving. My parents have a condo there and they go every November. This year we decided to go and spend Thanksgiving with them. Abby, Sam and I flew out on the Friday before Thanksgiving. We had a few days there and then Matt came the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We had a great time hanging out at their place, swimming in the pool, Christmas shopping, and going to the Desert Museum. Matt got to play golf twice with my dad (even though it rained both Thursday and Friday). We had a great Thanksgiving dinner. On Saturday we drove to Phoenix to spend our last day with Amy and her family. It was fun hanging out with them and Abby loved being about to see Ashtyn and Kylan again. Rick and Amy have a Wii so after the kids went to bed we played that for a while. We played tennis and bowling. It was very fun but my right arm was sore for about three days after leaving! Here are some pictures of the trip.

Abby sporting the sombrero Grandma and Grandpa got her in Mexico.

Boppa with the kids.

Sam and I in the condo.

We spent quite a bit of time in the pool and hot tub.

It was nice to see the sun again...

One night we were in the living room and Abby disappeared for a while. She was in my parents closet getting all of my mom's hats and putting them on her head. She was quite proud when she came walking out without any of them falling off.

I was sitting on a bench in the bird part of the museum. I was right under a bird and made a comment about it being able to poop right on my leg. About a minute later it did! I just had to take a picture and share. :)

Boppa and Abby at the Desert Museum.

Posing at the Desert Museum.

Abby and Grandma Loon playing cards.

The four of us on our last morning in Tucson.

Having fun in the park.

Three princesses.

The four cousins.

Kylan LOVED Sam. I love this picture of the two of them.

Joy and Kylan

Daddy with his kids.

This is a video of Abby and Ashtyn playing at the playground by Ashtyn's house. I love the imaginations of six year olds!