Santa Picture Preview

I will get the Santa Photo uploaded soon, until then, we have this photo of Lon about to leave for his photo.

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like Christmas

At least in Lon's room and bath! He wanted to have his room decorated today, since I brought up some of the Christmas stuff this afternoon.  I figured since I was putting the Thanksgiving boxes away, it would be silly to make the return trips empty handed...

The first thing we did was open the BIG box from Grandma. She sent Lon a new Christmas comforter set. We wanted to get this last year but it was sold out!

It came with a matching valance! I like it

Lon's little tree. He will use it as a night light now. I like trees to be brightly lit. The colored lights on the tree blink.

He wanted to make sure his Alaskan Nativity was out and looked nice. He thought that was important. He was right. The mickey mouse wreath we will hang on the wall as soon as I get a hook up for it

Lon hung most of the ornaments himself. Until we ran out of hooks. We will find more hooks in the morning. Lon is looking forward to sleeping in his room tonight. New sheets, comforter, and the tree!  He said he would not have nightmares tonight since the baby Jesus is in his room with him now.
Such a sweet boy

Happy Thanksgiving!

We love Thanksgiving! I, of course, had enough food for 30 people. It was good. Brian and Kayla brought their parents, and Dan and a friend of his came.  It was nice meeting her.

The kids all played well together. Even Uncle Chong.
Brian wore the shirt I made him for his birthday. That was nice.

Our turkey. The HUGE turkey. We looked at the 16 pound turkey and it looked so small. Sort of like a big chicken. We got this one, 22 pounds worth of turkey goodness

I did not get a chance to get any photos as dinner was being put on the table, or during the feast, but I did get this one snapped. Everyone was full and happy. Then there was dessert! Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pecan Pie and Mincemeat Tassies

Lon said he would try the cranberry sparkling cider if we let him try it in the crystal. Okay. He liked it. He also tried turkey this year and will eat it again I am so glad he has started trying things again.

Kayla eating her sock. She was having a wonderful time at our house. Most of the times she visits she is so shy and just wants to be with Mom. Tonight she was running around. Being chased or chasing Lon. She was laughing, it was so cute

She was playing with Mark too. Laughing like crazy!

More laughing with Lon

Lon and I made chocolate turkey lollipops. Lon wanted Kayla and Brian to have theirs before they left. I think we gave them out a little bit early. Kayla really liked hers and wanted to know if there was anymore chocolate in that bag!

Brian leaving with his new Thomas train carrier. Lon has too many trains to really use it anymore and Brian really liked it!  Brian is such a cutie!

Thanksgiving was wonderful, we all ate too much! The dishes are now done and this is my last task of the day!

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!

Snow Days

Monday it started snowing. Usually it lasts maybe a day or two, well, so far we still have snow and it is cold. Today we did not get above freezing. This does not mean we did not have fun this past week. We most certainly did!

All ready to go! Two pair of fleece sweat pants on!

It is so much fun to be outside! Even though there is not too much snow, there is SNOW

Working on a snow dog, since we did not have enough snow to make a snowman

Adding the spots. Grandma sent us this snow dog kit. It is foam dots, black, and blue, tongue, ears, paws, tail, and collar. It is so cool.

Finished puppy

It was still snowing on Tuesday. I found a metal bowl that Grandmother had given me, and it worked out great as a squirrel feeding station. The best part is, I can bring it in at night. No feeding the raccoons and possums.

Snow is falling, picture postcard pretty

I had to take the hummingbird feeder inside, it had frozen solid. Once I got it thawed out, I put it back out. The pretty little birds were happy. I have seen three different hummingbirds. I am enjoying watching them.

So far our snow total is about 3 inches.

Can we go outside? Can we? It is tough being stuck at home for days when we were not planning it. Lon has been home since Saturday. Daddy took off Tuesday and today.  We will all be home till Monday, they say a thaw is coming tomorrow.

Sarah, from across the street, came over to play outside.

Snow Angels

Lon was having a great time making snow angels with Sarah all over the front yard

Good Friends

Even though we were not going to take my car anywhere until the roads clear, Lon was determined to clean off my car. He did a good job. My car is now snow free, but there is a frame of snow on the ground around the car.
We came back inside, warmed up and we are getting ready for Thanksgiving!

Mowing in the Snow, and a Blogging Milestone

Today got cold, in the 30s. Brrr. There were some snow flurries coming down. This did not stop Mark and Lon from taking care of the yard. The last mowing of the year, to get up the leaves mainly.

Watching Daddy work. Someday it will be reversed.

I am not sure what Daddy was showing Lon, but it seemed important. The yard was starting to look great!

Stomping down the leaves and grass. I think this is Lon's favorite part of yard work.
I did my part too, I cleared off the planters from the deck, swept, put the gardenia and jasmine inside. Then I watched football and worked on Christmas presents.  Steelers won, Seahawks did not.

It did not show up on the pictures before, but I finally got a picture of the snow coming down. It did not stick and so far Lon is going to school in the morning.  It is 11pm as I type this and it is 25 degrees F outside.  This is cold.

After the boys took a nice hot bath, they played trains. It was a good Sunday




The blogging milestone? This is the 800th post!

Brian is 4!

Today we celebrated Brian's Fourth Birthday! WoW!
This is the cake I made for him. A white cake, with lots of sprinkles added to the batter! Between the train cake and the base there was a cherry filling. It turned out yummy!

Brian was very excited to show Lon that he got the movie Cars! He wants to watch it when he comes over to Lon's house. Brian enjoys playing with Lon's Car's cars. 

Grace arrived just a bit after we did and Lon and Grace decided they needed a private chat before the party really got started.  They did not want anyone else to be around. I am not sure exactly what they talked about. Lon just said they talked about the wedding.

Brian had a puppet show! The kids thought it was great fun. Lon and Grace were back in time to watch the whole show

Watching the show cuddled up with Dad.

It was a very interesting show, about a possum who had a great announcement but needed to be woken up.

Brian, of course, was the only one who could wake the possum up. At the end, each child was given a glow in the dark fringy ball.  Lon could not wait to try it out when we got home. Yes, it really glowed in the dark

Cheese Pizza! yummy!!

The kids played for a little bit after the pizza

Then it was time for CAKE!  Lon  looked up at me and said Mom, I  just really like cake.
Brian is so cute!

Blowing out the candles

After cake, Brian opened his presents.   The Fisher-Price Imaginext Toy Story 3 toy was the hit of the party with the boys. They all wanted to play with it.
It was a fun party, everyone had a fun time.

Penzey's Spices

Thursday, after school, Lon and I met up with Auntie Theresa and Ty and off we went in search of the new Penzey's Spice store. I knew the address. I knew it was near the market.  We had great parking karma! Got a primo spot right in front of Piroshky Piroshky.

Lon had a chocolate doughnut as a pre lunch snack on the way to the market

Ty is such a happy little guy. He also had a pre lunch chocolate doughnut snack.
We got starbucks coffees. Gingerbread and a Peppermint Mocha. You can try to figure out which Mommy got which. Since we are Moms, we got triple shots.

Watching cheese being made (cheddered) at Beecher's Cheese.
mmmm, we got some garlic squeaky cheese there. Yummy!
We did find Penzeys. I LOVED it. For some reason I thought it would be small. The place was HUGE. Well layed out, good lighting.  All the wonderful spices I wanted were there. Large glass jars of real vanilla.  I got 32 ounces. Indian spice blends, cinnamons, 4 kinds, ground or whole spices.  I probably spent too much money, but it was well spent. We will use it all. The bonus, we did not have to pay shipping. Parking was free! I was so in awe of the wonder inside I did not take photos! They do not have great signs, just a painted sign on the glass. Nothing over the door, or out front.  Perhaps that needs to be a little better.

We did stop at Piroshky Piroshky. I spent my last 20 there! Also, money well spent. I got the apple, the poppy seed piroshky. I got a cardamon nut roll and the best one EVER, the marzipan piroshky. Next time, we only get that! oh my. That was soooo yummy.  The boys got juice.  We still have a little bit of the apple, poppy seed and cardamon left. Just little bits for a breakfast snack. If this place was closer, I would be even bigger than I am!

Due to road closures and unclear detour signs we ended up going around the Space Needle TWICE.  Pretty, also frustrating.

Lon laughs every time we drive by this elephant.  Not that we do that often, but he seems to like this old sign.

We had a great time down at the market.  Just a little time down town, the boys were still being really good. There was no whining. It was a great day!