The FIRST Haircut

Lon reads the paper with GiGi, and then decides that he needs a new style for the upcoming new year.



Lon calls and makes an appointment.

Then we were off to CrossRoads Mall.

Lon played in the cars. We got there a little early.

The chairs are cool. Lon thought they were great!

The lady who cut Lon's hair was very nice. She showed him the cutters, she spoke softly. She is very good at her job.

There were a few tears, but overall Lon did very well.

Then the battery on my camera died, so the picture of Lon with his new hair will be posted tomorrow!

Miss Lindsay Visits

Miss Lindsay was able to spend two nights with us! She arrived on Boxing Day. It was wonderful to see her. Lon seemed to remember her! We love Miss Lindsay.
The day after Boxing Day we went to REI to get the last bit of stuff Miss Lindsay needed before she went to Africa. (a semester project for College) Lon was very well behaved in REI. I think there is camping in his future. We also got some winter stuff for Lon, he is now ready for snow.

Lindsay got all her stuff packed up. We wish her well in her adventure, and we await her happy return! In April.

Santa Visits

Lon's Second Christmas was spectacular.




As my mother said, this is what happens when a much loved, much wanted, long awaited for baby has his second Christmas.

Lon seeing all those packages for the first time!

Lon saw his new push car and that was it for a really long time! He LOVES his push car.

Lon even opened his presents from Santa in his push car.

While Lon was waiting for his lunch, he played with his Junior Driver. He is such a good boy!

After lunch, Lon wanted to go outside and play in his push car!

We went in for a little while, got dressed! And then played outside in the push car, again!

Such fun! That was Lon's Second Christmas! Lon is still getting to know all his gifts. Santa is very generous.

The next day, Daddy built his trike. It is a gift from Godfather. Lon can't wait to test drive it, as soon as his feet hit the peddles.

Christmas Eve

We did our great big dinner on Christmas Eve.
My Mother's cousins were able to come, as were another couple. It was nice.
Lon got TWO new books, one he can play with, it is a board book about learning and a wonderful book called Rain Romp. What a great book! The colors are wonderful--the story is great, about a rotten rainy day that turns into a super fun family day!
We made Roast Beast, twice baked potatoes, broccoli, and tons of cookies for dessert! I am pretty sure we all had enough to eat.

Gingerbread and Pointsettias

This is the new cake pan that Santa brought me a little early. I love those shaped cake pans! They are just too much fun. (the cake is a gingerbread pound cake, of course!)

Then Lon and I made a *real* gingerbread house!

Every year they have a pointsettia festival at Molbak's nursery. (Molbak's is a wonderful place) My Mother and Grandmother and Lon and I went this year.

Lon wonders around the flowers.

Danish Kringle. They give out samples of Kringle and Coffee or Tea. It is very nice.

It is super yummy! They got 300 Kringle in that morning and were sold out by 10am. 15 minutes. It was a record!

Lon got us some pretty pointsettias for our table.

Lighting the Christmas Tree

Lon helped me test the new lights for the tree! He does such a good job.

They all work! Yes, now to put them on the tree!

Then we put on the ornaments.

Oh Christmas Tree

Sunday, after a warm night, the family loaded up in two cars and got a Christmas Tree!
The reason we took two cars was the tree was not going to fit in mine with the car seat.

Daddy and Lon pick out just the right tree!


Lon hides amongst his toys! We put them all up on the couch so we could bring the tree in!

Lon helps Mommy put the lights on the tree. He really liked that part. So far that is the only part we have done is the lights on. The ornaments are still in our basement. I think we will wait for Grandma to come and help us put them on. I am also thinking that the glass ornaments are going to stay in the basement. Which is going to be just fine. Lon is learning that the tree is no touch. Although he still sneaks in a gives a look and then touches the tree with one finger. Such a funny little guy. All the presents that are wrapped (I was up till 1:07 am finishing the wrapping last night-- Santa has left the building!) The presents are in the garage, there are people who think all wrapped gifts need to be unwrapped NOW and it really does not matter if there is a name on them, they are all for Lon. He KNOWS this. So Christmas Eve, after little men go to bed, Santa will visit with all the gifts. The garage will look empty. It is going to be so much fun to see the look on his face.

We were SO lucky!

Thursday the weather people predicted a wind storm. Okay, fine. They are hyping it up. They always do, get people scared, give them a reason to go to the grocery store. This time, they were not hyping it up. This time, it was horrible. At first, I thought it was hype, the severe wind alert was only on till 10pm. 10 pm, we just had a little breeze. No huge gusts. By 11pm, we were having sustained winds over 40 and gusts up to 70. By midnight our power was gone along with a million other people. We woke up Friday COLD. No power. No heat. BRRR. But is was not too bad.

I am so thankful that this tree stayed put! Whew!

We had fun on Friday! Mark tried to go to work. The police in Kirkland turned him around still too many trees down. Power poles were also a big problem. Those came down, lots of those came down. We had an adventure on Friday.
We went for a walk. There were a bunch of trees down. Big trees. Roofs were damaged, some places big parts of roofs were just gone. This is a picture of the water overflowing from Juanita Creek. It got backed up with trees, and the force of the wind and rain pushed the water all the way down the street. The water went down three blocks, it carried rocks the size of my hand. There were yards washed away.
These were kids out trying to dam the water. I explained to them that was a really dumb idea, having water back up into that house would not please the people who lived there!

All day Friday we played with Lon. Cooked on the grill. I could not figure out why Lon would not take a nap. Then, I got it. His milk was COLD. So I put a cast iron pot on the grill, filled it with water! Once the water was warm, I heated up Lon's bottle. Three drinks and he was OUT for over an hour. And Mommy got coffee!
Lon was dressed in his onesie, his jammies, a shirt, a sweater, and his fleece coat, sweat pants, socks (several) and shoes. Round sandwiches are still good without power! (since I make them and they are peanut butter and nutella it was easy)
We had a radio, so we could listen to music and try to find some news. When we woke up on Saturday there was still no power. darn it. At this point we did not realize how much damage there was in the area. We had only seen our neighborhood and just heard, the power is still out in most places on the Eastside. It was REALLY cold in the house now. 43 degrees! To me, inside that is cold. Poor Lon, the only time he was cold was during diaper changes.
He walked around in his holy cow blanket for a while. He thought this was grand fun.

My friend Dan came over Saturday morning. He gave me grief about not being more prepared, like having a working phone and wood. He brought us over some wood in his Swedish Volvo.

This thing is cool. It can go anywhere. The best part for us, is that is holds lots of wood! Seats five adults in the middle, gear or wood in the back, and two people up front.


It was so nice to see Dan. I will get a cheap plug in phone that we can use when our roam phones don't work. The cell sites were without power so we could not use our cells.

I promise to remember I am from Alaska, not Redmond and I will be better prepared (wood, etc) for the next time we have a big storm. Probably another 5 years from now.

Saturday night at 8:19 our power came back! Yeah! It was great! Lon was already asleep. I turned the heat on. I did not turn on the Christmas Lights. We did not want to strain the grid.

We saw news photos of the rest of the area. We are truly lucky. There are people still without power. It is Monday. They are saying they are going to try to get everyone power by Christmas. It was truly an amazing storm.