Merry Christmas

Our Christmas season was amazing and we enjoyed every minute we were able to spend with my family. It was very hard to say goodbye to Stephanie and her family today knowing that I might not get the chance to see them all again anytime soon! The time we spent together was great though. All of my siblings were at my parent's house this year and we had tons of fun! We went roller skating, bowling, made gingerbread houses, played games, watched movies, and just hung out together. We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Santa Claus is coming to Town!

I haven't posted for a while now and I wanted to write about all the fun things we have been doing for Christmas but I have waited because I didn't want to post without pictures. Unfortunately I am going to have to because in all the fun I just can't seem to remember to take my camera.
My sister Stephanie and her two cute kiddos are here from Brooklyn, NY and we have been having the best time. Adam and Evy have so much fun together they are quite a pair. Dane is so cute and even though he is 10 months old this is the first chance I have had to see him. He is a very good baby and it's fun to watch Katie and him "play" together. It is more of a poke and gouge fest actually and Dane usually wins! I can't even express how great it is to see Steph, I have missed her and our visits together alot.
Last night we took the kids to Zoolights at Point Defiance and they really liked it. We had to force Katie's little hands into mittens and bundle her up very cozy in the stroller, but when we got out in the lights she loved it! She clapped her hands and yelled almost the whole time we walked around the zoo. The boys really enjoyed it and when we stopped in the aquarium for a minute, they were really into the shark tank! The sharks were circling the top just like Jaws with their fin on top of the water. I think Addie favorite part of the night was the hot chocolate and cookies at the end.
I love this time of year with the holiday music, movies, baking, and getting together with family and friends. Noah loves fudge and sprinkle Christmas cookies, "The Carol of the Bells", and the movie Elf. Addie loves hot chocolate, "Christmas don't be late" by the chipmunks of course, and The Polar Express. Katie just loves it all and adores the twinkle lights that are out for the season.

Story Time

Every night before Noah goes to bed we have been reading chapter books together. It is so fun! Over the past two years we have read lots of the greats...Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Stuart Little, My Father's Dragon, Junie B Jones, Mr. Popper's Penguins, James and the Giant Peach, The Boxcar Children, and don't even get me started on how many Magic Treehouse books Noah has begged me to read to him. (They are really more for read alone than read aloud. I get so bored reading them.)

Today I went with Noah's class on a field trip to the Seattle Children's Theater to see the BFG (Big Friendly Giant.) It was such a great show we loved it! Noah and I actually read the BFG together when we heard his class was going to see it. We really loved the book so much, as we have liked all the Roald Dahl books we've read together. He certainly knew what kids found funny. Sure enough when it came to the part in the play about whizzpopping, I'm sure you can guess what that is, it was absolute hilarity to the first graders present. Yes a real laugh riot to be sure.

It was very fun to get to spend some time with just Noah and see him with his friends. He is at that great age where he has yet to figure out what a nerd I am and he is still completely proud to show me off as his mom. Most times I feel very undeserving, but truthfully I couldn't be more happy about having such a sweet little admirer because the feeling is totally mutual.

Baby Steps

Katie has been such a crack up lately with all the new things she is learning to do. She has been taking some tentative first steps... not going back and forth between Jason and I but she will stand up in the middle of the room and just take some steps until she falls. She is so excited about what she can do too, it is cute to see. She can say mama, dada, and hi. She says hi the most though, always when I go into her room to get her in the morning or after nap she'll say hi! The boys were laughing so hard today because she was shaking her head no to everything so they asked her all kinds of silly questions, just so she would say no to them. I love to watch her cuddle her baby, she will hug it and pat its head, what a good little mama she is!