December

there's a Christmas tree farm a few blocks from our 

house. that's where we got our tree last year. it's fun walking 

through rows and rows of trees and having that wonderful Christmas

tree scent in the air. sure brought back childhood memories.

last year we chose a Christmas tree on
the narrow side. our living room isn't big so
i didn't want a tree that would take up much room.
it's fun searching for a tree ourselves but cutting it down
is somewhat of a tedious job ... not to mention the freezing
temperatures. Jacob had to stop several times to warm up his hands.

the Christmas theme for our tree
last year was mostly red ornaments
with forest critters. once the stores began
setting out Christmas ornaments i began buying
some. my sister got me two fox ornaments (the one
to the right of the partridge) and my sister-in-law also
gave me two fox ornaments (the one under the partridge),
that was a total surprise. i loved them all. see, the gold partridge?
I made that one (made a dozen) and the white felt star (made four of
those) with the red beads that's in front of the mouse. it sure kept me busy
but i had a lot of fun making them. this is the good kind of busy that i'm constantly
talking about.

our homely Christmas tree.
i love how many different style
foxes and forest critters i've acquired
within the last couple of years. to me, it gives
out that cozy rustic feeling. i love that!

our first Christmas family outing
was at the Puyallup fair grounds for
the Victorian Country Christmas. it was
our first time going to it but we first let riley
have a bit of fun.

this Christmas presentation was so
neat. there were dancers then we honored
our country and military then a play. they sang
Christmas carols which was wonderful to hear. it
was so well put together and it's an event that we hope
to go to each year.

i know Riley is getting big but
i'll let him sit on santa's lap as long
as he wants. i've told him the real story
about St. Nicholas and our version of Santa
... so he knows St. Nicholas is the real one and
he knows the history behind it. he is also very aware
the real reason we celebrate Christmas. i'm glad it wasn't
a big deal to him.

  family traditions are the threads that

link one generation to the next.

Visit with Santa Claus

I thought last year would be Riley's last year to sit on Santa's lap ... thinking he's getting a bit old for that but he asked to go see him. I couldn't say no, after all he's still so innocent. We like going to Bass Pro Shop. Santa's set up is nice and Santa himself is a real looking one. We've been to this store many times but I still look around in amazement like a kid in a toy store.

There's a huge tall Christmas tree as soon as you enter the store. Riley's been taking a picture in front of it for the last two years. It takes us about five tries to get a picture where he's looking straight at me. For whatever reason he always looks away just before I snap a picture. I'm like, "what are you doing? look at mommy". Lol. He makes me laugh.

We really love the country feel this store has. Not really into those fish hanging on the wall but the couches and the colors are quite cozy. Anything and everything that has to do with cozy we love. To me life is about comfort not the glamour.

We got here about 45 minutes early. There were already three families ahead of us, not bad at all. I took a book to read while I stood in line. Jacob took Riley to the different play stations they had set up for children to play at. So time actually went by pretty fast.

Riley said that now that he's close to turning 6 years old he was not afraid to sit on Santa's lap like he had been years before. I reminded him to make eye contact and to answer in a loud voice. Whenever Riley gets nervous or is apprehensive he tends to look away and not speak. He says he's shy. I don't believe that. I think he's just not comfortable talking to older people. It's usually the outgoing people that like to talk to others that he's not used to. I guess we live in a world where people hardly greet each other let alone have conversations with strangers. Or it can also be because we're not around people much other than the ones from his school and church. Whatever the case, I continue to teach him that we should always be polite and kind to others.

I could tell he was a bit nervous still. He really didn't look at Santa while he asked him what he wanted for Christmas but he did answered his questions in a loud voice with a smile.


It's been getting pretty chilly here in the PNW. We've been having lots of cloudy days with some rain. I kinda like Mondays. The kids have one hour late start on Monday's which means we get to sleep in an extra hour .... at least Riley does. I do linger in bed about fifteen minutes longer but then I tell myself to get out of bed and to get ready before Riley wakes up. That also allows me to take a shower and get ready without having to rush and that is a very good thing.

This is our first year to take part in Advent. I printed out Advent verses and hung them on a string with tiny clothespins. I ordered an Advent book that Jacob read passages and stories from daily. This is still all new to us. I've been looking around at other Christian mom's Instagram feeds and have gotten great ideas on how I can make it even more intentional and meaningful for the family. I also want to get an Advent candle holder. Next year I will be better prepared.

Since I don't have a card holder I came up with the idea to get a plastic garland and hang it horizontally on the wall and hang the Christmas cards that we receive on there with more of those tiny clothespins that I have. I also bought all of our first name initials and hung them on the garland. I think it gave it a more festive look.
In all honesty, I didn't stage this picture with Sophie. She happened to sit down seconds before I took it and since she's cute I let her stay in the picture. She's a goof.

Take a look at the letter N. See how it's smaller than the rest? Yeah, well there's a story behind that. I had gone to the Joann's Craft Store near our house and loved these red initial letters. I believe at this time I only found the J, G, S, and one R. I figured I could drive to another Joann's by Jacob's work. So there I go and I was only able to find an R, so I got that. But, no N. That was the second Joann's store that didn't have an N. So I remembered that there's another Joann's store not too far from our house so there I go. I got there and immediately found the letters but no N. I asked the cashier and you know they always say, whatever is out there is all we have. Psh! At this point I was getting a bit irritated. Then we drove to the Barnes & Noble in Tacoma and there happened to be another Joann's right next door so I dashed in there and no N. How in the world could four Joann's stores have sold out of the letter N. I swear they just goofed and didn't order any. I was all bummed out. So, then I went to Hobby Lobby. They didn't have any initial letters of the exact size that I was looking for so I had to buy the next best thing. The N I got was made out of cardboard. Once I got home I painted it red and the following day I used the glue spray and applied the red glitter. It looked good but just about two sizes smaller. I was happy with it. I just couldn't leave out Nathan's initial. He didn't mind that it was smaller than the rest.

Picture With Santa 2014

I had no idea there was a Bass Pro Shop here in WA. I know they have Cabella's since I've seen two of them. One day while I was browsing online I read about Santa's Wonderland happening at Bass Pro Shop. I thought that besides having Riley's picture taken with Santa that he would have a blast seeing the inside of this store.
As soon as we walked in, it was non stop "wow!". We took several pictures around the store. I especially loved the huge fireplace.

While I stood in line to wait to take a picture with Santa -Jacob and Riley walked around the store. They spent most of the time looking at all the fish in the aquarium.
I was finally glad it was our turn. Happy that Riley didn't cry like he did last year but he was still a bit nervous and shy because he really didn't want to make eye contact with Santa..

This was the picture that was taken by Santa's elves. I'm glad a faint smile was captured because he really didn't want to smile. He was happy to have gotten a candy cane {or candy "came" as he says it} afterwards though.

Riley named this reindeer Sven, lol. He would say, "look mommy Sven, like in Frozen". He kept starring at it probably wondering if it was real or not.

We walked around the store for a bit. I checked out some camping stuff, l like stuff like that even though I've only been camping twice in my entire life and when I was a kid.

Riley learned the name of one particular fish, sturgeon. He kept pointing at it whenever it would swim by.

After we left the store we stopped by Wendy's and got fries and a frosty. Jacob got our kids started into dipping their fries in their frosty's. Me well, I'm not a fan. The frosty's are good though.

Just before going home we made one last stop at Starbucks. Sydna and Nathan had stayed home and we wanted to bring them something sweet back.
Just as we were pulling into the parking lot its when I felt my heart racing, felt hot, static hearing. I began taking deep breaths and concentrated on relaxing. It lasted about a minute. That scared me.

Later that night around 1:00 am I woke up again with that feeling in my chest. I woke Jacob up, headed to the emergency room and the rest is history. I wrote about it a few posts back.

I am so so very thankful and grateful for Jacob.

A Visit With Santa (2013)

Our Christmas festivities wouldn't be complete without a picture with good Old Saint Nick.

We set out to find Santa on Sunday. Sydna and Nathan stayed home. I'm guessing they're "too cool" to take pictures with him. Lame!

While I stood in line {which happened to be quite a long line} I had Jacob entertain Riley. They walked around the store, listened to a small orchestra playing Christmas music, had a snack, watched a bit of the Polar Express and colored. He behaved himself so well.

I was a little nervous that he would freak out again like he did last year. To my surprise he didn't. When he first saw him he stopped walking and took a few steps back. Santa noticed that Riley was a bit nervous and so he began talking to him and offered him a candy cane. That did it. He willingly walked right up to him. Jacob sat him on Santa's lap and he was immediately asked several questions. Although Riley didn't really make much eye contact he did answer every single question he was asked and at one point Santa asked him, "Will you look at me?" and Riley did. There was one answer Riley gave that had us laughing. Santa asked him, "What do you want for Christmas?" and Riley replied, "Christmas presents". Isn't that the cutest innocent response ever?! But then he said, "cars, puzzles and toys". My boy!! I love him!

He said bye to Santa and we left ... and as we were walking away Riley turned back and said, bye Santa, once more.

I wish Santa would have asked me if it was alright to give him a candy cane. I don't let Riley have hard or chewy candy so when he fell asleep in the car I took it away and hid it. I made up for it and bought candy cane joe joe's from Trader Joe's. He was happy.


At our house we do Santa. Saint Nicholas was very real and it is from his good deeds to help children and those in need that we participate and continue to carry on this Santa tradition with our own family {we just don't buy into all the stuff that Saint Nicholas didn't do}. I don't really go as far as saying he's gonna come down the chimney to leave presents because that was an invention created by the author who wrote The Night Before Christmas. I do let my children believe in some magic though. My kids know the real meaning of Christmas so I'm not worried. I do let them have fun in believing in Santa. My kids outgrew it on their own. Santa is all about giving ... that's it, and that's a wonderful thing to do and to believe in.

I found a bit of information about Saint Nicholas if you care to read on,
just click on the link: History of Santa Claus

Busy Times

I was reading several blogs earlier today and I came across one where this lady was talking about how she should be in a cheery mood especially during this time of the year. It made me laugh when I read it because I can totally relate.
I believe that we all strive to be happy but we have our moments where we fall short of our own expectations and even want to slap some sense to those that get on our nerves. I wish I could have done that to a woman on Friday and it took EVERYTHING I had not to call her names and give her the finger. She purposely behaved extremely rude just because she wanted to I guess. Seriously, I was pissed off at her for doing what she did .... but I didn't allow myself to lose control. Some people just don't have common courtesy yet they expect tolerance when they don't deserve it.

Anyway, that was several days ago. Now, I don't give a toot about that woman and will choose to ignore her if I happen to see her again on my way to Nathan's school.

Sometimes I can't believe I have a 16 year old daughter. It has nothing to do about me being in my late 30's but when I look at her or just think about her it both amazes me and freaks me out ... because she'll soon be 18 years old and going out into the world, exploring it on her own. What I stress the most as a mother is her safety. I know I shouldn't worry but in the back of my mind I always will.

I realized I didn't post this picture in my last post but still wanted to include it for the kids so see their paternal grandparents from their November 2013 visit to WA. Nice people. They are the ones we go to whenever we have a question about His word and for prayers. My father-in-law is the most patient easy going man I know. He never complains and from what I've seen he never says no. My mother-in-law is nice as well.

Riley likes to play around with brother. He sometimes tries to pull down his shorts just for the fun of it and the more Nathan laughs the more Riley keeps doing it and can't stop laughing himself.

Another evident sign that Sydna is growing up ... Jacob took her on her first test drive. Relieved he has the guts to teach her because I don't. He took her to a neighborhood where there's new construction and hardly any traffic. He said she did well and only covered the basics ... however he did give her a hard time because she failed to come to a complete stop at a stop sign. I laughed. Sydna was excited though and can't wait to go on another test drive.

Here is another Christmas ornament I worked on last week. It was quite easy to do. I just covered several Christmas balls with burlap and tied them with festive ribbon. That's it. Easy, super cute and a quick project.

These are the Christmas trees I showed you a couple of weeks ago. I like how they look but I couldn't find where to hang them so I just decided to hang them in a bare corner wall that was lacking some Christmas cheer.

Jacob gave this little boy a much needed haircut.

And now, see how cute he looks? I like it!

Guess what I finally decided to do .... since my favorite cookies are sugar cookies I decided to make some from scratch several days ago. I had Jacob supervise me while I did it. It's easy. Sydna was giving me a hard time because she said I was taking my time measuring everything. LOL. Honestly, when I cook I don't measure anything. I just eye ball it ... but with baking I hear it's different and one has to measure everything. How BORING!!!! Maybe, this is why it has taken me years to get into baking. And maybe next time I'll be a little quicker too.

I bought this little guy a sketch/drawing pad. I drew {as best as I could, lol} a candy cane and showed him how to color inside the red lines/stripes. He then took the red crayon and began coloring inside the lines. He did so good. He really concentrated and made quite the effort not to color outside the line. Impressive!

He recently remembered how fun it can be to play with a flashlight. I keep it in one of the top cabinets and when I was getting a cup one day he saw it and asked for it. I've found him playing inside the bottom cabinets and the pantry. I'll see light shining through the cracks and realize he's hiding.

I finished decorating my mantel last week. I love the simplicity of the votive candles. I bought white sand and placed berries around the candle.

I'm so thrilled with myself because I mailed out our Christmas cards last week. It feels pretty good knowing that loved ones will receive their cards a couple of weeks before Christmas and not the week of Christmas or days before. I really like getting things done with time and I'm happy to be getting back on that routine once again.

When we go grocery shopping Jacob usually hands Riley his phone so he can play games and let us shop in peace. I peeked in on him {and hoping he didn't press anyone's number} ... he was watching a video of Sydna's first test drive. He's so funny. Sometimes he'll watch every single video and we'll hear him crack up at the ones of himself.

The weekend was busy. We went Christmas shopping. We dropped Sydna and Nathan off at the movies to watch Catching Fire while we shopped for them.

Riley behaved for the most part. He stressed me out a few times but we got over it. I was surprised the mall wasn't more crowded. I guess in a way we did our shopping early. After the mall we stopped at a taco shop for a late lunch. It has been very cold here in the PNW and even walking from the car to the store or restaurant one almost ends up freezing to death ... and it doesn't help when it's windy. Seriously risking any possible chance of getting frost bite.
We got home and celebrated Riley's birthday ... but more on that on another post.
It really felt good being back home and changing into warm clothes.

On Sunday we went to see Santa ... more on that too.
Sydna and Nathan stayed home. I guess they are too grown up to take pictures with him but just you wait. Things will change when they find their special someone and end up doing all those fun cheesy things with them, including taking pictures with Santa. I'm sure it'll be cool then.

It had been several weeks since Jacob and I {and Riley} had lunch together. We went to Red Robin. It was nice having somewhat of a date. Then we made a stop at Starbucks and I got my favorite holiday drink. I didn't have my coffee in the morning and was really surprised I didn't end up with a headache later in the day.

This month is sure flying by. It almost feels like there's not enough weekends to do all the fun Christmas-y things we want to do.

Santa ... Winter Train & Village ... and Lights

12.15.12

We had three festive outings planned out for this day. We were up, ready and out the door by 9:15am. To some it would be overwhelming but for us it was exciting. You have to expect delays, crowded streets and venues, and having a plan b {just in case} during the holidays. Other people just like you are out wanting to join in on the Christmasy fun too so if you want to enjoy yourself you've got to mentally prepare.

One thing I can say I have done since becoming a mom is to take a lot of pictures. I have about a dozen albums of my daughter from when she was a newborn to her first three years of life. If it wasn't for all those pictures I would have forgotten half of what we've done. There were also times when I didn't take pictures and you know what? I regret it because I missed a lot of special moments. One can still be behind the lense and also partake in the festivities. Now, I've learned to do both.

We first drove to Sumner, WA. We were told that there's The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse that decorates their store for Christmas and where Santa visits on the weekends. They don't charge for the picture you take with him but they do suggest you leave a small donation. Besides selling furniture this warehouse also sold lots of sweet goodies including fudge. We were also told that if we were planning on going to get to the store an hour before Santas arrival because the line gets pretty long.

You will see these type of bridges throughout Washington. I especially find them neat looking because I had not seen let alone driven through one in my life until now.

I totally fell in love with several furniture pieces. I love unique furniture. I loved the sleigh table and benches, the sleigh coffee table, and the cart looking bench ... this one would totally look cute in a front porch. They also had awesome outdoor furniture and stools.

 

These vintage art pieces are cool!

 

We purchased several flavored fudge squares. Jacob and the kids love anything with peanut butter. I'm not a peanut butter fan. I was in the mood for some chocolate caramel fudge. It was delicious!

Making our way towards the back of the store where Santa hangs out.

Once we got to the back of the store Jacob went and stood in line. We had about 45 minutes to kill before Santa arrived. The neat thing was that there were several things the kids could do to entertain themselves while we waited. They had three train sets and villages, a coloring and toy area, and a little theatre area where they were showing Polar Express.

Peeking over at Santas house.

Jacob keeping busy ... playing bejeweled.

 

These were some huge stuffed animals. Riley didn't care to pose infront of one. He was more interested in playing with the penguins.

 

A few minutes before Santa was set to make an appearance. The line sure got long fast. Thank goodness we didn't have to wait for hours.

 

Up next.

Priceless ... and not surprising.

He cried last year so when he freaked out this year it made me laugh. I don't mind it one bit that he's crying in this picture. I think it's hilarious and once he's grown he'll get a kick out of it. I'm hoping he'll get better each year and eventually stop crying. It would be embarrassing if he would still cry after four years old.

Look at his face. Looks like he just got done getting shots, lol. He looks spent.

And as we were walking out we saw a horse drawn carriage. Isn't it neat?!

The day seemed to get colder and colder by the minute. Riley needed a diaper change. Good thing it was only pee. Don't know about you but I personally prefer to change my child in the car or stroller instead of in the public restrooms changing table. Even though I carry my own disposable liners I still cringe when I lay him down to change him. I think I've only used a public changing table like three times. So since I have a truck I had to open the tail gate, I place a thick throw or blanket down on it that I always keep in the truck and I change him. I remember this particular diaper change. It was super fast ... like twenty seconds fast since it was so cold. Time to head over to downtown Seattle.

*****

It was very congested in downtown as you can imagine. Not only because of people being out and about for the holidays but because there was construction going on and some streets were closed. But after we got out of that mess it was a lot better. Also, it was our first time to drive in this area so it was a bit confusing. We stopped for gas and as I looked to my right I could see the Space Needle. It's so neat to finally see it in person, from the ground that is.

It was lunch time. Jacob is a huge fan of the McRib and you know it's only around for the holidays so he wanted to get one and that pretty much meant that we all had to eat at McDonald's. That's fine. Only if it's once in a while. Riley had never had a happy meal so we got him one. I was more excited than he was ... because I love happy meals even now as an adult. But my little guy is not me. He ate a few bites of one fry and about three hamburger pieces I layed out for him, after that he didn't eat anymore.

After we ate we made our way into Seattle Center. It's a big area where they have different buildings ... i.e. museums, the space needle, the Armory where we were headed and where there are more restaurants {that we didn't know about before we stopped at McDonalds}, the monorail boarding station, a fountain, large grassy areas, art work, sports complex, and other buildings. During the holidays they change it a bit and it is called Seattle Center Winterfest. It's six weeks of festive, fun filled entertainment. They have an ice rink, a winter train and village at the Armory center, warm roasted nuts and other fine foods, performers, ice sculpting on Saturdays, and live music.

We didn't go up the space needle. Waiting to do that on a different day when it's a nice clear day.

The {backside} of the EMP Museum - the world's first museum devoted to the thought-provoking ideas and experiences of science fiction.

There was a steady drizzle and it was breezy. In other words, it was COLD! I had to continously wipe the camera lense from drizzle.

Monorail station.

At the Armory Center. Glad to walk inside where it was warm. Brr! We got some Starbucks and walked over to the winter train and village.

I really liked the village. They did such a great job. It is a turn of the century village with garland homes and buildings, snowy streets and a moving model train. It looked so cozy. I would totally like to live in a village just like this one. Do you think some still exist today?

Riley liked it too. He loved waiting for the train to come around. He would get excited and pointed at it and blabber. All I understood was "twain!"

 

After spending some time looking at the train and village we walked around the Armory center. Saw several restaurants that we would like to try then stopped at this snowman photo op. Several people were also looking at him and smiled at him and that's when he covered his face in embarrassment.

 

 

Blurry but I captured a fun sweet moment between Sydna and Nathan.

 

We braved the drizzle and cold and walked outside again. We wanted to see what other things there was to see. There's a Catholic church nearby that we walked into real quick. I'm Christian Catholic so I felt the need to walk inside and say a little prayer and to thank God for his blessings and protection.

 

Then we walked past KeyArena. I believe this is where the Supersonics used to play when they had a basketball team years ago. Across the way from KeyArena there's a huge fountain called the International Fountain. During the summer months they have the Fountain of Lights series where they project film and video, add music to it, and a live DJ. They also have a beer garden {yeah!}. I really would like to come back for this.

 I love my husband!

 

International Fountain Pavillion

 

I asked Jacob and the kids if they would like to ice skate but none of them did. We are just not into that. We prefer tubing, snowshoeing {which I hope we get to do}, hiking, and sightseeing.

 

The Seattle Center is super neat and there is lots to do. Plus the Puget Sound is close by. Seriously, there is TONS to do here in WA! I like that ... a lot!! 

Upon researching on where to go see neighborhoods all decked out in Christmas lights we came across Candy Cane Lane on Ravenna Blvd in Seattle. So off to Candy Cane Lane we go. 

 

*****

 

When we arrived at Candy Cane Lane it was 6:35pm and there were quite a bit of cars and people walking to it.

Candy Cane Lane is a quaint village that consist of 23 houses built in the 1920's. An english country village with homes made of brick with arched doorways and tiny garages hidden in the back. We liked the neighborhood more than the decorations. Honestly, given that we've lived in several states and have been to other neighborhoods decorated with Christmas lights, we have seen better. CCL is cute but it lacked pizzazz. The younger kids definitely enjoyed them though. Nathan thought they were cool and you know what. Having fun together is what it's all about. Isn't it? I think so.

I took more pictures but some were either blah or blurry.

 

The day was long, cold but full of fun. Sydna and Nathan enjoyed themselves and Riley was actually pretty good. Now on our way back home.

 

 

*****

We had only eaten lunch and had Starbucks so we were pretty much hungry by the time we got home. Riley fell asleep on the ride back home so Jacob layed him on the couch ... he started a fire and we watched White Christmas while Jacob cooked dinner.

 

My husband made us Shrimp & Pasta Formaggio. First time of him making it and it's definitely a keeper. I love shrimp!

And the best thing about our day {well anyday actually} is hanging out in our living room and watching a movie together. I love the cozyness we've created and the cloudy/rainy weather we have now just adds more cozyness to our current mood. We love it!