The one with the best.dance.ever.

There are no words! Love her

The one with all the snowflakes

Snowflake lane to be exact. We have come to love and look forward to this fun tradition. Snowflake lane is a place by the mall that is all decked out for Christmas, with giant snowflakes projected onto the buildings, extra loud music playing to dance and sing to, real "Toy" soldiers beating their drums, beautiful snow princesses granting kids wishes, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph posing for pictures, and other fun characters hand out candy-cane lollipops. All the dressed up characters are local teenagers and they always do such an excellent job! Oh, and did I mention it "snows?" They somehow turn soap to look just like snow-flakes falling. Very cool. Erik wasn't able to make it this year (thanks to the auditors lol). But the kids and I braved the crowd and had a great time!

Savannah was like, "Whaaa?!"

Troy giving the abominable dog? a hug. Not really sure what his character is lol

Three sweet princess...and Rudolph. Brooklyn asked me why Rudolph was walking with the princess. She decided it was probably his first time, so he didn't want to get lost. :)

Even though there was a prince, Troy did NOT want to be in this picture. Too girly for him!!

Savannah had a blast!!

With one of the REALLY tall "toy" soldiers

My sweet buddy, and Brooklyn photo-bombing :)

I love this, the drummer boys had just come out. 

See the drummer on the pedestal behind us? 

"Snow!!!" 

The one at the kids Christmas party and SANTA!

I think I say it every year (and multiple times throughout the year), Erik works for the best company! They are a small corporation, but they really cater to families. Not only do they have a fantastic adult Christmas party, but they have a simply delightful kids Christmas party too, where Santa comes and delivers presents to all the kids. The kids have started looking forward to this party every year! We are truly blessed and thankful for our NAES family.

"Cookies as big as my face?! Ok!"

"And lemon bars too?!"

"Umm num num"

Sweet Brooklyn coloring her wooden Christmas ornaments. They were scattered on the tables for the kids to color. So fun

Troy enjoying his lunch 

The girls!

Love this. Troy ADORES his Daddy

The boys

Dear Erik, If you take pictures like this, I will post them. Love, your adoring wife :)

This is the same Santa they have every year. He's the best and has the most gorgeous Santa suit!

Trying not to show how excited he is about his nerf gun. 

Santa looks like he has her in a death grip, but he was just trying to get her on his lap, and this is the best picture I have of her on his lap...

Savannah was surprisingly calm, Santa was surprised as well! 

We are so blessed. 

The night of the adult Christmas party, and the ever awkward prom stance. It's always fun to get dressed up! 

The one with the grandparents and pie

Whew, it is almost Christmas and I am finally getting around to posting about Thanksgiving. That's just the way it is around here these days. Too much to do, too little time. And when I say too much to do, I mean, too much sleep to catch up on and too many books and magazines to read. Because that is what I would rather do with any extra free time that I have. I'm blaming it on the gloomy Seattle fall/winter weather. Add a cup of steaming hot cocoa or cider and I'm down for the night. Not only is this doing wonders for my house, but also my waistline! Ha! Ah well, New Years resolutions will be here before we know it. And THEN I'll stop eating junk and sleeping instead of exercising. Seriously.

Anyway, we had a FABULOUS Thanksgiving this year! Wednesday was of course PIE DAY, or as I like to call it, "any excuse to get together with girlfriends and ignore our kids." lol But we were efficient and made several pies for the next day's feast. Then that evening my parents came into town! It was so much fun having them around for a few days. The kids were in absolute HEAVEN! So Thursday we stayed inside and cooked until dinner(except Erik, he braved the weather and played some football, and felt it the rest of the weekend, and we all endured his moans and groans every time he tried to move haha). Then we headed to our good friends', the Richardson's, for some delicious food and fabulous company. I really am so blessed to have such amazing friends here in good 'ole Renton. The Oneill's were there as well and we all enjoyed stuffing our faces together. I only wish I had worn elastic pants rather than the "gotta suck in my gut the whole time I'm wearing these pants." Next year. That night, Brittany and I braved, literally, braved, the crowds at Walmart for a little pre-black Friday shopping. At 8pm people! Gone are the days of having to wake up at the crack of dawn (Hallelujah!). It was C-R-A-Z-Y-T-O-W-N, but we kept telling each other, "Think of the memories we are making!" We both came out a few dollars poorer, but got some good loot. (But where were the dang My Little Ponies!!). Then Friday, Mom and Dad wanted to get out and do something fun, so we drove to the ferry docks, and headed over to Bremerton to see the ships and sights. Too bad it was POURING rain, so we just stayed in the car, but we still had some cool views of the huge aircraft carriers and other ships I don't know the names of. Then we drove over to Tacoma so Dad could see the Tacoma narrows bridge. For dinner we hit up Ivars, then called it a night and put the kids to bed early. Saturday we headed to my Dad's favorite place, Boehm's chocolates (also known as wallet drainer to my Dad. He LOVES to spend money in there!) And I must say, we don't really complain. The kids got a couple special treats and so did the rest of us. I can still see the residual on my thighs lol. After gobbling down chocolate covered bananas, chocolate covered ice-cream and numerous truffles and caramels, we decided we should probably eat lunch. So we headed over to Panera and had a nice lunch. Santa was in his little cabin just outside, so the kids talked to him for a bit. That night, my parents good friends (whom they knew when the lived in Edmonds), had their 50th Anniversary party. Erik stayed home with the kids while I joined my parents in getting reacquainted with long-lost friends. Mom and Dad headed out Sunday morning, and we were so sad to see them go! But we really enjoyed their visit and can't wait to see them again! Love you guys!!

some cookies I made for one of Erik's co-workers. 

I forgot to add, the Neuffers stayed a night with us. Daniel had a band concert. We had a great time with them, even though it was short. And a fun, adventurous lunch to the Asian market...then trying to get the stroller folded in the pouring, slanted rain! lol 

Brooklyn completely in her element, coloring, at the kids table.  Britt had everything looking so beautiful!

Mom and Dad. 

Photo-bomb!! lol

Love them.

"Get Mama!"

Sweetest.picture.ever.

She has him wrapped around her finger, and then some!

Dad and Eric carving the turkey. And taking samples here and there. Gotta make sure it tastes ok before you serve it right?!

My sweet girls. Troy was not having his picture taken this night! Stinker.

Dad and me. 

They love their Grandpa Hill!

Sweet kiddos. Minus Taggart and Savannah. 

The one with the teenager

We were fortunate enough to have my sister Heidi and her husband Mike, and 16 (or 17?!) year old daughter (Jenica) come into town for a quick over-night visit. We stayed up late Sunday, crammed in a quick Insanity workout in the morning, then hit the town for a quick lunch before they had to jet out. Jenica slept-in a while in the morning and my kids kept asking, "When is our cousin Jenica going to wake up?!" Heidi just told them, "She's a teenager!!"  On the way home from lunch, this conversation ensued:

Brooklyn: "Mom, is Jenica a teenager?"
Me: "Yup."
Brooklyn: "Mom, do teenagers like to sleep a lot?"
Me: "Yup."
Brooklyn: "Oh, so then YOU'RE a teenager too huh?!"
Me: "Yup, it's my youthful glow." lol

I guess I sleep a lot. Or would like to. :)  Funny girl.

The one with the candy grabbers

Halloween 2012. An epic day to be remembered always. Ok, so nothing really unusual or out of the ordinary happened, but it was an epic day none-the-less. For breakfast we enjoyed "Troll brains" (scrambled eggs), "Wolverine fingers" (sausage), and "Witches saliva" (milk). Lunch I served up "monster mouths" (apple slices with peanut butter and mini marshmallows), and "slimey worms" (mac' n cheese). We made caramel apples, and ate a couple, then headed to Chipotle for some "Booritos." ($2 burritos if you are dressed in costume). Then we headed to the Rigtrups for hard-core trick-or-treating! :) Fun times!!!

Ward trunk-or-treat 

Happy Halloween!! 

My sweet, beautiful girls!

Tired Mama with sweet Savannah

Savannah and silly Troy, and again, tired Mama! lol

"Ahhh, Roxy!!!"  Such a fearsome creature ha!

Ready to go out!

We have spent Halloween with the Rigtrups every year we have lived here. It's become a fun tradition!

"I will get this candy open!"