New Years Eve

We took the kids to Snowflake Lane in Bellevue for New Years Eve.  The weather was perfect, clear and cold, and the traffic wasn't too bad, so we had a great time.

The kids liked the music and the drummers and the snow, but their favorite part was finding their cousins and going to the playground after with them.

Kid's Museum

I took the kids to the Children's museum in Everett, it was PACKED, but the kids had a good time in the early morning when there weren't quite so many people there.

Cecily was a little over-whelmed with the water exhibit, but eventually she found the toddler zone, which she loved.  They've recently re-done the water room, it was pretty awesome, I imagine that if we ever come back with Keith he'll want to spend the entire time in that room.

School Photos

We got Parker's school photos back a few weeks ago.  He's not really smiling so much as smirking, but it's pretty cute.

But, what is uncanny, is this photo I found of Joshua when he was in preschool:

Think they're related?

Fishin'

This Christmas was the year of the fishing pole.  The kids & I each got a fishing pole for Christmas.  Parker has been playing with his constantly.

The kid's poles came with a few inflatable sponge fishes that they could "catch" in the bath tub, as well as a plastic fish that they can use to practice their casting.

Parker LOVES it, he's been casting & reeling constantly.

Look what Papa got me!

Christmas Morning

Cecily got this adorable sweater from Keith's Mom for Christmas, she insisted on wearing it to bed Christmas Eve night.

Christmas Eve

We went to Keith's folks for Christmas Eve.

The kids love hanging out with their cousins, and they love gifts, so it was pretty much a smashing success.

Cecily insisted in trying on Denise's new jammies.

I'm not sure that I philosophically agree with adult-sized onesie jammies, but they are pretty cute on Cecily.

Downtown Adventure

I took the kids downtown to see all the Christmas decorations.

It was a bit of an ordeal getting both kids on & off the bus and around Downtown without the stroller (especially with Cecily's constant death-wish), but they had a blast.

I took them to the Teddy Bear suite at the Fairmont, Cecily would have happily spent the rest of her life there surrounded by teddies.

It was a fun adventure, but I was exhausted by the end of it.  I think next year we'll just drive, and I'm certainly bringing the stroller!

Joanne & Janet's Birthday Party

Joanne & Janet had a "milestone" birthday this year, so we took the whole family to the Salish Lodge for breakfast.  It was a great morning, the kids did remarkably well and we all ate until our little bellies were ready to explode.

We were too busy having a great time to take many photos (and I refrained from posting an impressively un-flattering photo of Denise eating...you're welcome).

But I do have photos of the necklace & bracelet I make for Joanne & Janet.

Parker's Christmas List

For most of the season, if you asked Parker what he wanted for Christmas, the conversation would go something like this:

"Parker, what are you going to ask Santa for?"

"All the things"

"All what things?"

All the things on my list

What is on your list?

All the things that I want

But what do you want?

All the things on my list.

...this could go on forever.

At some point, this changed to:

Parker, what you want for Christmas?

"I want Jake-and-the-Neverland-Pirates-and-all-the-guys-and-all-the-ships-and-all-the-stuff"  "...and the Hungry Hippos game" 

We had to write the letter to Santa because Parker forgot to tell him about the Hungry Hippos game when we saw Santa in-person.

Zoo Lights

We went to Zoo lights with Keith's folks and Jared on Friday.  Last year, we went on a Sunday night in late-November, a note for the future, that would have been a much better idea than the Friday night before Christmas!  It was packed, but the lights were beautiful, and the kid's survived not having dinner until 9pm (we'll see if Jared forgives us for that some day).

He was super excited to ride the carousel, you just can't tell...

That's better:

Sleeping

I came upstairs to go to bed and found these two critters in my bed.  I knew Parker was there, but Cecily seems to have made it in under the radar.

I love how she climbed up on the bed and then passed out face-down.

Santa Photos

Keith's company had their family Christmas party on Friday.  This year, Parker was determined to sit in Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas, he was also going to tell Santa what Cecily wanted for Christmas, since she wanted to have nothing to do with Santa.

He didn't actually end up in Santa's lap, but both kids shook Santa's hand and got pretty close to him, so it's a pretty big improvement over years past.

They had cookie decorating for the kids, Cecily was a fan, buy the end, she had frosting from head-to-toe.

Traditionally, we would get tickets for the Westlake carousel at the party, but since Keith's office has moved, that's not an option, so this year they had putt-putt throughout the office.  The kids had a blast whacking the ball all over the place.