Our Christmas Tree! I usually insist that we cut down our own tree. We were on our way to do that, but the U-Cut lot only had Douglas Fir trees and it was too early for those {would have been d-e-a-d before Christmas}. They had a sister lot with more variety and we were talking about going there, but it was raining and the kids were still happy at this point, so I decided we would just pick from their pre-cut trees and keep the experience joyful. It was a good decision. The tree was gorgeous {even if it dented Tyler's car when he got it off of the top of the van} and we left with smiles.
Christmas Cards! These are the pictures we put on our Christmas card...because we never got around to getting family pictures taken and taking pictures on our phone, then throwing on an Instagram filter, was the easiest thing to do. The actual cards turned out pretty darn yellow. I hope people don't think we have jaundice.
I love Tucker! He's cute.
Library! The kids lOvE library day and I love to see them love reading.
Breakfast of champions! Some days are SO busy. This particular morning it was about 10:30 and I realized I hadn't had any breakfast. I was on my way to volunteer in Max's class and was so glad the kids had left a snack in the car.
Christmas Flash Mob! It was really fun! It took place at the Kitsap Mall and this little lady was on my back, singing her little heart out right along with the rest of us. She was happy we were both wearing shirts with green and red shoes. It's not by chance, little girl. I wanted us to be kinda matchy. Because you're 4 and I can do that now. You might not think it's so cute-sy when you're 15. Please stay 4. Or 5. 5 is my max.
Annie! For Ty's birthday we always give him date gifts {something he can do one-on-one with each member of the fam}. I bought tickets for him to take Max and Kelly to see
Annie at C-Stock {a local theater company}. To say that the kids LOVED it would be an understatement. The music of
Annie has absolutely taken over our lives; Kelly's especially. I am glad that I have a hubs who appreciates musicals as well as manly sports stuff. This was a great night for them!
Treat Night! Kelly's friend, Kynnedy {who happens to be the niece of our great babysitter and my friend, Jessica}, invited us over to decorate cookies and make Christmas treats. Her sweet grandma did so much work for the evening and the girls {and I} had so much fun! Kelly loved having something special that just she and I got to do.
Kelly's dance recital! Sister wanted to take dance for a long time and so we went for it in September, at Irene's School of Dance. But about a month in, she was over it. The school is a little weird because they only let parents watch one day out of the month. But I spent enough time in the waiting room {which was next to the room they had class in and I could hear the teacher} to know that the lady was not super patient or fun. And they didn't learn much dancing; a whole lot of "shuf-fle, kick". Kelly was bored. She didn't hate it, but didn't really like it either. Can't say I really blame her. But we told her she should stick it out through the recital in December and she agreed. Occasionally she would excitedly say, "I can't WAIT for December!" I thought it was because of Christmas, but she would happily say, "No, I get to get out of dance!" :) I might check out other dance schools in the area to see if they are any better...because the girl really does love to dance. And she looks so cute in her recital get-up and make-up, I just am not ready to give that up yet. :) Annnddd....not sure what the "peace" sign is all about with Max in the post-recital picture.
Homemade Christmas presents! My favorite this year
{we gave them to my parents and Ty's parents}...bookmarks! They make me giggle
every.single.time I see them. Right now is no exception.
Not pictured, but we did the traditional caroling with the Morgensens! two days before Christmas. That is ALWAYS a fun time.
Christmas Eve! My favorite. Christmas Day is really great too, but I just LoVe Christmas Eve. We started the day with the {now} traditional egg nogg waffles. We went to give our final gift and reveal ourselves to our 12 Days of Christmas family, plus took around a few more treats to friends/neighbors. We got the house nice and clean. That evening, we had the Lintons and our dear friend Jeannette over for dinner. Afterward, the Kellys joined us for the kids to do the nativity {always a hit}. Mrs. Clause and her sneaky elves doorbell ditched Christmas pj's, as usual, and then it was time to write a letter to ol' St. Nick and set out the milk & cookies. Max wanted to appear very unselfish and would only write about what he hoped Santa was bringing for Kelly and Ev...so Kelly decided that she had better write a letter on behalf of Max. :) It was sweet.
Christmas Day did not disappoint. Excited little ones all around. I love this stage for Christmas! Dad checked to make sure Santa had come, he turned on the fire and some Christmas music, brought up everyone's stockings to open on our bed. After a bit, we went to see what Santa brought. {The big items were: BYU football uniform with helmet and pads for Max, 8 Strawberry Shortcake & Friends dolls for Kelly, a Ninjago House for Everett (word on the street is that Santa stayed up until 2:30 a.m. a few days before Christmas to paint it...and it was awesome!), new bath toys for Tuck}. We ate our traditional German Pancakes for breakfast and then got down to business with the under-the-tree presents. We stayed in pj's all day and it was glorious. Snow fell as we opened presents {not the norm at all!} which was the icing on the cake. I'm a little extra sad to see Christmas go this year for some reason.
8 years of wedded bliss! Ty took me on a date the day after Christmas - we worked out at the Y, sat in the hot tub {we never get to do that with kids in tow}, got dinner at Panera Bread {new in Silverdale!}, met the Kent's for frozen yogurt at BluBerry, then we all went and saw Les Miserables {only movie I've ever seen that makes me want to fork out the money to see it again in the theater}. In the hot tub at the Y, Tyler told me of a surprise he had planned for our anniversary {two days later}. He got a babysitter and we were going to hop on the ferry and stay overnight in Seattle at the Hotel Monaco. See why it's been 8 years of bliss? I snagged a good man! On Friday we parked and walked onto the ferry to Seattle. In Seattle, we walked to Ivar's and got my favorite clam chowder and bread bowl to go, then hoofed it up a few blocks to the hotel. It was a super cute/stylish little hotel. I loved it. Later that night, we went for a walk on the still-lit streets of Seattle, agreed that {though we like visiting it} we are smallish-town people and are better suited to where we live. We slept in the next morning, had brought our own breakfast {yummy bagels and cream cheese from Panera...can you tell we're excited about this new eating establishment?} We took our time getting ready, then it was time to get back to the ferry and our kiddos {who were very well taken care of by Jessica} Perfect anniversary!
Self-Portraits! Since Ty whisked me away on our anniversary, it threw off my plan {this is not a complaint}. I was planning to put 8 balloons above our bed with my favorite memories/pictures hung from each balloon {totally got the idea from Pinterest}. So on Saturday night when he took the kids upstairs to give them baths, I enlisted Max's help and we set it up in the family room instead. I *
ahem* could not seem to settle on 8 pictures. More like 50. You're reading my blog so that means that you witness this constantly here as well. It's a problem I have. So I attached some of the best pictures and memories to the balloons and then Max went crazy putting the rest on the walls. I knew the kids would love seeing all of them too. Kelly came down and finished helping...they were SO excited to show Ty! It was fun to reminisce. And it's funny how many pictures we have of Ty holding the camera out to snap for us. We need to hire a full-time photog to follow us around. That and a chef. It was also funny to see my face - you can totally tell my pregnant and non-pregnant times even though my belly didn't make an appearance. :)
Museum of Flight! We got a Groupon in November to hit up the Museum of Flight, somewhere we've wanted to check out for a while. So on New Year's Eve it happened. And it did NOT disappoint. We all loved it. It's someplace we would love to go sans kids sometime {or with kids when they are older and want to read all of the information about each exhibit}. But there was also plenty for the small people in our life to do. Tuck Man was a trooper and just happily hung in the stroller most of the time. It was SUCH a fun afternoon with the fam. It makes me happy just thinking about it now.
New Year's Eve Par-tay! Our friend, Russ Kent, was a bachelor {his wife went to visit their daughter, son-in-law and grandson in Provo} so we invited him to join our festivities. We had a candlelit yummy dinner with Martinelli's, of course. Later we further stuffed ourselves with yumminess dipped in chocolate fondue. Kelly and I did our party favor shopping at the Dollar Tree and she picked out the masks...Ty felt the need to add some 2013 decor to them. It was a good night. We celebrated with New York at 9 p.m., complete with obnoxious poppers, and then we had a toast. Everyone had a go at waxing eloquent about the New Year and what we are grateful for. I put the kiddos to bed and we chatted with Russ a little longer...and we were in bed before midnight. I have a feeling 2013 is going to be a really great year!
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