We all scream for ice cream!

We walked to the local farm store for a sweet snack. It has been super hot lately (ok, it was 81 today...)  but to us that is hot.  The kids quite enjoyed their treats. Momma and Daddy enjoyed the sweet faces of our babies as they ate their yummy ice cream.  

Generations

My grandparents are in town, and staying with us. It's so fun to see the kids interacting with them. The boy just LOVES Grandpa, while baby girl is quite taken with Grandma. These are two of my most favorite people, and I love having them here. I have learned a lot about them that I never knew before, just listening to their stories of their lives. I love that my kids know them and get to spend time with them.

Generations

Grandpa Bob and Grandma Bob have been staying with us for a few day while they are in town. The boy is quite enamored with his Grandpa, and baby girl eventually warmed up (she is SUCH a Momma's girl!) We were sad to see them leave, but we enjoyed visiting with them. I  learned a lot about them that I never knew before, just listening to their stories of their lives. I love that my kids know them and get to spend time with them.

Family fun

Daddy leaves tomorrow for TDY in Korea. We have had a fun week with Daddy off work to get ready for his departure. It will be hard, but we will all do fine, and will be able to enjoy our reunion next month.

Pacific Science Center

It's always great to see kids get excited about learning things. The boy loves all the things he can see, touch, play with, and learn about at the Pacific Science Center. There is an amazing butterfly exhibit where you get to walk around and see butterflies all around you. Of course Stanley was invited!

Sight seeing with Stanley

We had to take Stanley to some of the classic tourist spots. The boy thinks Stanley is the coolest thing ever, so we are starting our own. You can reach him at FlatStanley98382@yahoo.com

Travels with Stanley

We decided to take a family trip to Seattle to do a lot of fun stuff as a family before Daddy goes TDY to Korea. Stanley came along for the ride, and we had fun showing him all the sites. Baby girl was more impressed with her toes than with the fish at the aquarium!

Forever anniversary

Today is the anniversary of our family being sealed for time and all eternity in the Seattle temple. The boy was 1 year old when we were sealed. It was an amazing day, and we are happy to be celebrating such a beautiful anniversary.

We love Daddy

These kids sure lucked out, and got a good Daddy. They love to play with and climb all over Daddy. It's a good thing he such a big guy, they both got to be ferried around today. Sister cracks me up the way she is laying on brother in this picture.
I love Daddy, he loves me. We love Mommy yesiree. She loves us and so you see...we are a happy family!

Baby girl's first Christmas Eve

Baby girl got to open up her first pair of Christmas Eve jammies tonight. She seems more interested in the wrapped packages, she actually gets a little perturbed when we open them. She doesn't want to rip the paper, she just wants to look at it. She did like the jammies though, she kept waving them around and shrieking. Both hers and the boy's jammies have monkeys on them, so they match but they are not "matchy." We opened jammies, then put our special ornaments on the tree, put out cookies for Santa, read "The Night Before Christmas" and the story of Jesus' birth from Luke, checked Norad for Santa's progress, and put the kids to bed. It was a GREAT evening.

Cookies for friends

For FHE we made cookies and decorated them for friends. We delivered all but one, and we had a lot of fun doing it. The boy took it very seriously. I had written "Love, the ....'s" on all of them, before the boy told me that he wanted to "put them on the doorstep and run away. Like elves." So he was in charge of delivering each plate. He got to take the first plate to his best little buddy (and future wife...according to them) and her family, including their new little baby who is one week old. We also took some to the missionaries, to our family's best buds, and to Nana. We have one more plate for another family but they weren't home tonight. The boy and I will finish frosting and delivering the rest tomorrow. What a fun way to spend the evening!

Family Christmas Portraits

We took these before church today, in front of our tree, and then in front of the church. We got all spiffied up today for Christmas, though we probably will next week too! I love to be matchy matchy for church. I know it's a sickness, really, but my poor long suffering husband puts up with it and participates.

Sunday is a fun day

We took these pictures before church today. The boy jumped up on that light pole and I just loved how it looked. Very "singing in the rain." The boy took the picture with Daddy in it. We didn't have any one to take a picture of all of us handy, so you'll just have to imagine!

Gingerbread houses...take 2

Ok, so last year, our gingerbread houses were a DISASTER. They fell apart, the frosting didn't spread, Mommy had a melt down (Well, I was pregnant so I blame hormones!) So this year we decided we were only going to buy pre-assembled houses. I didn't realize when I bought the mini village that they were not put together. We tried in a big hurry to put them together on Monday for FHE, but when it didn't work (and Mommy had a mini meltdown,) we put them in the closet. Today, Mommy took her time and got them assembled, and voila! A gingerbread village! (But next year....we will double check that they are pre-assembled cuz I'm not doing that again!)

O Christmas tree

The kids were fascinated by decorating the tree. The boy took it very seriously, hanging all the blue bulbs on one side, and all the pink on another, only about 2 feet off the ground all the way around. Daddy "helped" him get them distributed more evenly. Baby girl LOVED the shiny and sparkly bulbs. She just stared at them the entire time. It was so fun to watch them together sharing this tradition.

Santa Daddy

Every year since the boy's first Christmas, Daddy has played Santa Claus at work. The boy refuses to sit with any "other" Santa. This year, the boy has started calling him "Santa Daddy." He was very excited to go to see Santa Daddy and sit with him. Santa Daddy asked "What's your name little boy?" And the boy gave him this great "you've got to be kidding me" look. I love how baby girl is staring up at him, as soon as she realized that was her Daddy. We have a picture VERY similar to this one, of the first time the boy saw Santa Daddy. Speaking of the boy, last year, we were at our ward Christmas party, and Daddy wasn't Santa. We stood in line for a long time to see Santa, and when we were next, the boy says to me "That's not Daddy!" I told him I knew, but it was ok, we could still go sit with him. The boy FLAT OUT refused to go sit on that Santa's lap, and turned in the line and yelled to all the other kids "That is NOT Santa!" He wouldn't sit in his lap, or even look at him. So my picture was of the boy pouting standing in front of Santa. It was still pretty cute, especially because of the story behind it. Daddy will be Santa at our ward party this year, so the boy will not stage a protest this time. It cracks me up that things are so black and white, right or wrong, to the boy. Daddy not being Santa is just wrong. Today, the boy told me there are only two things that make him happy. Snow and Santa Daddy! Too funny.

Happy Turkey Day!

The kids and I had a fun morning today though, since Daddy had to work, we made pumpkin pancakes with cream cheese "filling." (Can't bring myself to admit it was frosting!) Then we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, and started getting out Christmas decorations. Then, since our oven is broken, and we won't get a new one till next week, we went with Nana to a potluck turkey dinner at her church. It was nice to not have to buy anything, not have to cook anything, and not have to clean anything! The only bummer is that we don't have any leftovers! We had a good day, and tonight at midnight, I get to go to Wally world for some great deals with a dear friend!

SNOW DAY!!

Boy howdy, did we get a snow day! It started about 7:30 am and literally did not stop until about 7:30 pm. For 12 solid hours it DUMPED snow. I don't know what the official measurement was, but outside our door we got about 12 inches of powder. We had quite a day! We built a snowman, threw snow balls, made snow angels, sledded down the hill, took pictures, and had hot cocoa. It was a lot of fun. The boy LOVES the snow. Baby girl...not so much. She cried almost the entire time she was outside (less than 10 minutes.) Maybe she will get used to it, I bet we'll have more snow this year. I had such fun with the boy today. Our snowman was built at about 9 am, so by the afternoon, it was completely buried under new snow!

Eskimo kisses!

We got our first little snow flakes today. It did not stick at all, just a few little flakes falling. When I said "it's snowing!" the boy informed me that it is not "snow" unless it piles up on the ground, this was just "snowflakes." He is such a doll, he has such a big personality, and he is so smart. A friend gave us this adorable little outfit for Baby girl, and it's pointy little hood just cracks me up. She is such a little angel.