Snoqualmie

Saturday we decided we'd go inter-tubing at Snoqualmie Pass. However after waiting in line for an hour to buy tickets for tubing, they sold out. Fortunately we had brought our sleds with us from home. So we hit the hills and went sledding! We all had a blast until Lake's sled took a turn toward a tree and he got snipered by a bunch of snowy branches. After sledding, we went up to the lodge and warmed up by the fire and had hot cocoa and nachos. We had such a special day!

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve we went to church and spent the night at Manya & Papa's house. Papa read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and the boys set out the cookies, carrots and milk for Santa and his reindeer. We missed Uncle Phil & Auntie Alicia and baby Keely, but Uncle Andy was super fun and we were glad he spent the night with us! After the boys were in bed, we played Trivial Pursuit and as boring as I thought the game would be, it was actually hilarious. I dont know why I kept getting all the damn Presidential questions - I'm clueless in History.
Christmas morning we all opened presents. Lake was such a helper handing out gifts - since he can read now, he was into checking out the tags on all the gifts and reading who they were for. He completely took over Papa's job of passing out the gifts.
Santa brought the boys almost everything they asked for...except for Turbo Man. After watching Jingle All The Way, Lake & West have wanted a Turbo Man doll more than anything. How do you explain to a 3 and 5 yr old that there really is no Turbo Man?? Lake insisted the elves would make a Turbo Man doll for him.
I think Sean's favorite gift was the child-size neck ties his mother got him. If only you could have seen one on him. :) And my favorite gift of all would be the twinkling sparkling diamonds in my ears! i have to say i have the most wonderful husband!!!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Eve

We went to the Joyners on Christmas Eve Eve...The boys were so excited to open presents early! Among other things, both Lake and Weston got new socks from Gramma...and the funniest thing West said as he opened his next present was "I hope its not more socks!" After all of us had opened our presents, we played Hungry Hungry Hippo and Connect 4!!! Even Grampa got in on the fun and games. :)

Three Bears Lodge

December 13-16 our family spent the weekend at a cabin near Mt Rainier called Three Bears Lodge. We celebrated Christmas early with Phil & Alicia, as they'll be in California on Christmas day. We had a wonderful weekend and made memories we'll never forget.

We made Christmas cookies and salt-dough ornaments...

And we played in the snow!

Tree Hunting

The day after Thanksgiving, we went hunting for the perfect Christmas tree. We went to a tree farm out in Monroe. We were blessed with a beautiful sunny winter day! The boys had fun playing hide & seek amongst the trees. We found our perfect tree in no time at all and enjoyed hot cocoa and hot cider as Sean got the tree up on the roof of the Pilot.

the tooth fairy

Lake lost a tooth!

lake lost his first tooth today! i just tucked him into bed and his tooth is safely stashed underneath his pillow...waiting for the tooth fairy to come and take his tooth and leave a toy behind. seems like i used to get excited about a dollar left for my tooth - kids these days, now they're asking for a new BMX from the tooth fairy! sean is acting as tooth fairy tonight and suprising lake with a new bumblebee transformer!

trick or treat!

happy halloween! my boys came up with the idea that they could wear two different costumes on halloween...so why not? this morning, they were eager to get ready for school and picked out costumes from their dress-up box...Lake decided to be a silly clown and West wanted to be spiderman. Lake had his first school parade at the elementary school! its moments like these that i cant believe he's in kindergarten! the boys both had parties at kindercare this afternoon too...they were all sugar'd up by the time we picked them up from daycare.

after dark, we met at grandma & grandpa's in edmonds and went trick or treating w/ the boys' cousin chase. lake was jack sparrow, weston was matt hasselback, and chase was a cowboy.

now i remember why my parents insisted on "inspecting" our candy at the end of the night. i think they were really just choosing their favorites from our bucket of treats. of course, sean & i had to do the same. :)

ready, set, go!

like a good neighbor, state farm is there!

on friday, sean & i signed our lease and got the keys to our new office space! what a feeling to turn the key in the lock and to realize this office space is ours. this weekend, we removed wallpaper border, pulled off baseboards and pulled up the carpet. lake & weston were our big "helpers" using their bob the builder tools. and now the build-out begins... if only i could choose a carpet and not change my mind 47 times. and if only i could decide on the upholstery for the office chairs. we bought our desks and bookcases and let me tell you how excited sean is to start assembling everything - (not). anyone want to join us for a furniture-assembly party? :)

living hard

ok, maybe you dont know this about me, but you should. i am wild about gary allan. i just got his new cd today and i cant get him out of my head. ~he's raw and edgy, not to mention he's frickin hot! (as i shared with the girls in mexico, there's something about dark-haired & tattoo'd.) gary allan is awesome!

Field Trip!

today was lake's first kindergarten field trip! could the weather have possibly been any more miserable? i'm secretly so happy that sean actually volunteered for this field trip and i didnt have to spend the morning out in the rain and freeze my butt off. i have to tell you that sean was so excited to ride the yellow school bus with lake and his class...and when the teacher told him there wasn't room for the parents and they had to drive themselves, he was so disappointed. he met the kids at The Farm and chaperoned lake and his friends ryan, caleb, bella & kailyn. they had a blast. not only did they get to take a hay ride, they made an adventure out of the hay-maze underneath the barn, and then chose their pumpkins. lake, being as unique as he is, chose a green pumpkin! the kids ended their field trip with orange creamsicle popsicles. like cymmie said - who's brilliant idea was it to give kids ice cream in the pouring down rain? lake and sean stopped by to see me at work on the way back from the pumpkin patch...and lake was so adorable, rain-drenched and all. he was so excited to show me his green pumpkin!

down on the farm!

the whole fam together to pick pumpkins!

uncle andy and baby keely - her 1st trip to the pumpkin patch!

last weekend was the perfect weekend to go to the pumpkin patch! we were blessed with blue skies and sunshine! my entire family gathered at Maris Farms in Buckley and shared the afternoon picking our favorite pumpkins. we enjoyed a leisurely hayride and delicious corn on the cob!
sunday night we carved our pumpkins. my boys' favorite part was scooping the guts out of their pumpkins with their hands and acting like goblins! the boys wanted us to carve scary face pumpkins of course!

go barefoot

just take your shoes and socks off and go barefoot!
you know how good it feels to walk across cool summer grass...feel the sand in your toes...splash your feet at the water's edge...
and music to my ears is the sound of my little boys' feet slapping across the hardwood floor as they head down the hallway, just before they climb into bed with me every morning...
i love my boys' bare feet. i could kiss them all over and eat their toes. even when they're stinky.
some of life's most precious moments can be spent barefoot...
and so i say we should all go barefoot!

camping at lincoln rock

...craving one more weekend of hot summer sun before the seasons change, we headed over to lincoln rock in mid-september. we shared the weekend with friends, combining all 7 of our boys together for some special memories...throwing rocks into the water, climbing trees, riding scooters, swimming, playing at the playground, jumping on katie's air mattress in her tent... the boys had a blast!