January. . .

Grandma's visit! 

Leo 8 Months!

Partners in "slime". 

Special Day with Grace. Ben and Jerry's and a book at Powell's! 

Special Day with Kate! Picking out a toy at Child's Play $10 or under

I love that I get to hang out with this kid every day! I tried to get a pic of her hair that was just brushed so pretty by our babysitter:).  

Palm Springs

We had a great time in Palm Springs visiting my parents! It was such a great change to have warm weather! The kids had so much fun swimming! 

Our mandatory hike up the mountain:).  

Tennis lesson with Jim! 

Lulu Lemon Tennis and Yoga! 

Made it to the Oasis! 

Our big hike in the desert:).

Last night of swimming!

Super Grandma! Always had a game going with the kids! 

Fun night out with Pat at the resort! It was so pretty!! 

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

It snowed on Christmas Eve! It was so cliche, that everything that day seemed like it was from a movie! Every time I got in the car and heard Christmas music, especially "Dreaming of a White Christmas", it felt surreal.  It was fun, though, and only lasted through Christmas, which was just right!  The kids even got to go sledding!

We celebrated with the Kessi family at Bill and Maureen's on Christmas Eve. It was a matching theme this Christmas, and we all got matching hats and jammies! I was super excited about the jammies, because every year I romanticize having matching jammies, but it's one of the things on my list that does not happen! So super fun to have them this year!

The snow came just in time for Christmas!! 

Twas the night before Christmas, and we forgot to have cookies, so left out carrots and pretzels:).  

CHRISTMAS MORNING. . .

Super Mario Monopoly! 

Grace reading to her new baby Eli:). 

Pat burning after we opened presents! He was pretty excited to go out in the snow and burn stuff:).

first time using self timer on camera! 

Hallmark movie with Dad:). 

Christmas dinner at Bobby and Carrie's! 

Grace is 8!

Grace wanted to invite her whole class to come to our house this year for her party! I told her that since it's a busy time of year, some people might not be able to come.  It turned out most were available that day, so we had quite a crew! I think there were 17 total! We lucked out that it was a beautiful day and they could play outside! It was crazy, but really fun!

Then on her actual birthday, we had her cousins over to celebrate, and she got to to to Ixtapa for dinner, which was fun for all of us! 

She scored on a lot of fun celebrations this year! 

Lots of awesome gifts, but this huge Hershey's chocolate stood out for sure! 

She wanted Reeses Puffs for breakfast:).  

Ixtapa for dinner! 

December. . .

We had a lot of fun celebrations this December! Our kids saw Santa three times without us even trying!!  It started with our local lighting and visit from Santa Claus, then a kid party at the Arlington Club (Santa again:)), where decorating gingerbread men and a visit from a clown were super fun!  Then things slowed down a bit until the church pageant, with another visit from Santa!
And in between all those activities we got to celebrate Grace's birthday!

But first, we got our tree. . .

We got a tree from Maureen and Bill's again this year!

I love when everything is decorated! And I'm glad I have a picture of the tree from the beginning, because by Christmas, it was totally dead!! 

Activity #1 Lighting at the Watt House in Scappoose -End of November

Not the best at getting the kids to look and smile, but definitely the best, most realistic Santa! 

I think this really was Santa:). 

Activity #2 Arlington Club Kid Party

Attempt at a group picture.  

I know clowns have a bad rap, but this clown is always a huge hit with kids!! 

A mom insisted on taking a picture of me with the kids.  So glad Annie and Leo cooperated:).

Kate wanted to show off hers, too! 

I was trying to capture our beautiful decorations and have the kids smiling.  I don't think I got either:). 

Grace had to get a toy to donate to Toys for Tots.  She was bummed that she didn't get a candy exchange like Will's class, but excited to buy a super cute bear to give away! 

Activity #3 Pageant potluck

Santa #2

Just another crazy morning! 

Kessi Construction Holiday party at Ixtapa

Looking at the Shepard's Christmas decorations!