Here Comes Santa Claus.....

The weather was perfect for the Big Guy to visit and apparently Buddy the Elf passed along the message that we wouldn't be here for Christmas so Santa made his visit here last night. Luckily he brought some really cool toys that have kept the children busy today. E is in love with the LEGOs, G got a Vet kit with a puppy/pet carrier/dr. tools and M loves his Curious George and Maisy books. The Nanoblaster guns are also a hit (what would a holiday be without weapons?). Pics of finding Santa's surprise visit:

After playing inside for most of the morning we went out to explore the snow. We have 5-7 inches on the ground with a thin crispy topping of freezing rain. One of our neighbors led the kids in building a snow fort in the cul-de-sac. It was finally good for making snowballs though the crispy topping made rolling a snowman impossible. Everyone here seems to believe that getting out on Wednesday morning will be no problem....they also have told me in the past that it never snows here so I am starting not to believe them.... neighborhood trust issues. Of course my kids came out telling all about Santa coming last night so those trust issues are probably rolling both ways right now.

Pics of snow:

love and hugs and stay warm,

B

Cabin Fever???

Even Buddy the elf is feeling a bit crazy due to the weather.

D's Parents Visit

Since we have had nothing but snow, snow, snow I now have time to do a quick blog on D's parents visit.

Friday: They went with D and took the 2 little ones to Moms Morning Out and then toured our little town with D. We had seen sea lions at a distance, but this was the first chance we had to get a picture that would turn out. This was at the beach area that is less than a mile from our house. In the afternoon we took a drive, shopped a couple of stores in the harbor and ate dinner in the harbor. Santa happened to be at the restaurant where we ate.

Saturday: There was a PTA event that D had to attend in the morning so his dad and G went with him. I brought E, M and his mom over at the end. After that we drove them over to Tacoma and had lunch and decided to head to Seattle for the afternoon since the weather looked bad for Sunday. We walked the market in Seattle and drove past the Space Needle. We took the ferry home and while on the ferry it started to snow. Foreshadowing of the week(s) to come.

Sunday: We woke to snow on this morning. After a leisurely morning we went for a walk in the snow, ran a few errands and spent the afternoon mostly being lazy around the house. The kids opened their Christmas gifts from D's parents and loved them.

Ending with a video of M singing his theme song. Sorry I am so loud on it but he was taking some prompting to sing it on camera. In the middle when I ask if it is the boys theme song notice that he replies that it is "all babies" theme song. He has heard this song only once and latched on to it and sings it all the time now.

Enjoy!

love and hugs,B

The Snowy Days

I thought it wasn't supposed to do this here, but it does. Apparently once it starts it doesn't like to stop either. We are expecting more tonight and then again this weekend. D's parents were here to visit over the weekend and we had a great visit. I will post on that later. Just sending along various snow pics for now.

From the back patio and the boys playing outside:

The penguin seemed quite happy with the snow in the morning, but by nightfall was a bit under the weather:

The house looked pretty with a dusting:

Last pics of plants in the snow. I was pretending to be a photographer.

I will post again soon when I have more time.

love and hugs,

B

Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Chirstmas

It is beginnning to feel a lot like Christmas. We went in high gear all weekend long and did bunches of new things. Friday we picked D up from work and went to Zoolights at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma. It was a nice night for it (not too cool, not raining) and we all enjoyed the walk and seeing the lights. The kids loved the adventure of walking the zoo in the dark and I was a kid again seeing all that they did with the lights. Several displays showed lights in motion to make a scene like an eagle swooping down to catch a salmon from the water and a beaver chopping down a tree (we thought of you Dad). Here are all the pics from zoolights; I tried my best with night pics, but no matter how terrific the camera some shots take more skill than I have.

Saturday the kids woke up to find St. Nicholas had visited. They each received a few books, some candy and crafts along with a new cereal bowl and cup. Saturday night was time for the town's tree lighting down in the harbor. The boys got to pet a reindeer (guess who wanted to go back over and over) Santa arrived on a fire truck (no nervous breakdowns from E-- we are making progress) and E and G both talked to Santa to tell him what they wanted for Christmas. I love the picture of them holding their candy canes after to talking to Santa--- there is a look of complete joy on their faces.

Sunday after church their was a special celebration for St. Nicholas day since our church is named for him. Finally our weekend slowed down Sunday afternoon with the kids napping and playing outside and we ended the weekend with 'make your own pizza night' (aka use up the leftover bread, spaghetti sauce and odds and ends in the fridge night). It was a beautiful weekend! Wish you all could have been here to enjoy it with us.

Ending with a pic of the harbor Christmas tree.

love and hugs,B

Here's Your Sign.....

Just wanted to write a couple more signs that we are not in the South anymore.

When you wake in the middle of the night to the sound of a fog horn.

When you listen to traffic reports on the radio and ferry delays are the most important part.

When you see lines on the road similar to the brine (salt water mix) sprayed before snow in the south----- but here it is moss killer. Seriously. They have to put moss killer on the roads during the rainy season. Actually we need it on the patio right now.

One sign that you know it is close to Christmas at our house.....

Buddy the Elf has come to watch the children and flies back to Santa each night to report the good and bad of the day. They have been so excited and crazy since he arrived that I think Buddy may fly away one night and never come back. This is an elf with a tough job.

love and hugs and be good... Buddy's watching,

B

Thankful Through Christmas Decorating

I did not want to completely miss Thanksgiving, but it seemed to zoom right past.

I am thankful for family, friends, our new adventure which is almost a year along now and not that new anymore, and having a nice place to live, food to eat, and children who are slowly learning to appreciate these simple things. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and remembered to think about all their great gifts and give thanks for them.

Thursday we had neighbors over for Thanksgiving dinner and ate until we were ready to pop. The kids played until they were exhausted. The good china was actually used and nothing was broken :) Adding a pic of E consuming one of the legs of our 19 pound bird.

Friday we braved going to a few stores, but didn't find anything grand. G and M were still tired from playing so hard the day before (see sleeping in the van pic) We also got the Christmas boxes down from storage and began decorating. We found this year that making the decorating last 3 days helped the kids not get so out of control with excitement. Theme for the decor is: simple. The lights on houses here are beautiful and maybe next year we will go all crazy, but not this year.

Saturday, drove out to a little sand spit of land called Day Island right off Tacoma. what a beautiful little place. Old homes on two streets as tight as they could put them in and it overlooks the bridge and a beautiful piece of the Puget Sound. Decorated a bit more when we got home. Chilly Willy is in our backyard so we can look out the den windows and see him. He is not holding up so well and we hope he makes it through the season.

Sunday, played away the day, decorated the tree, and went down to the beach to see if we could find sand dollars (no luck).

I think that is our last quiet weekend for a while so I hope I relaxed and enjoyed it enough.

love and hugs,

B

An Adventure Without Pics

Last weekend we did go on an adventure, but I forgot the camera. The way our adventures pop up these days I should just store the camera in my purse. We drove up to Poulsbo WA--- a lovely little historic town with obvious Norwegian roots. The town architechture and decor is modeled after a Norwegian village and the waterfront area is so picturesque. We ate a good lunch at a place with terribly slow service and then walked the shops in town including a yummy bakery which had "elephant ears". They are a thin crisp sugary cinnamon pastry which melts in your mouth. I remember getting them as a child and seeing them there in the bakery (and eating two the next morning for breakfast) took me back to my childhood. E was not a fan, G and M loved them, and D devoured one by himself (usually not a big fan of the sweets). Pic of G eating his "elephant ear" on sunday morn(not a good pic, but a pic nonetheless).

Sunday D and I went out on an afternoon date and the twin 14 yr-old boys next door came over to babysit our 3 little boys. We had fun and it was good to get away on our own for a little while and the best part was we came back to our home(still in one piece) and 3 very happy little boys. Nice!

Sunday evening D and I attacked putting the china (which has been in boxes for almost a year) into the newly refinished hutch. I have my grandmother's set of china which is a never ending set. After unloading two of three boxes D looked at what was laid out and asked

"How many plates are there??!!??!!"

Well, it is a pastels set with four colors, four place settings ( approx.) per color and plates are a large component with dinner, lunch,dessert, and bread as the varieties. That does not count saucers for seemingly endless coffee/tea cups. He had never seen the whole set laid out together and he was a bit taken aback. M had the time of his life burrowing into the paper and crawling into his box cave. Pic of M playing and china in the hutch.

I put baby latches inside the doors to keep children out as well as hoping to keep china inside in case of an earthquake. Yes, I am super nervous about earthquakes--- once we have one maybe I will get used to them.

I promise to bring my camera for our next adventure.

love and hugs and be prepared-- you never know when an adventure will happen,

B

Two in One Day

Two posts in one day--- it's amazing!!! No, actually it is the kindness of a neighbor who invited the older two over to play.

Just wanted to show the hutch that we just had refinished. I started stripping it in the garage in May, but then the kids got out of school for the summer and I found it had seven layers of paint instead of the four we thought were on it. And the bottom was a stain that had been on from the beginning of time. No, really.... Noah applied it right after that flood thing happened.

This shows the top(glass doors) and bottom of the hutch after one round of stripper. The white at the top of the glass doors is the color the whole thing was painted.

These pics are after about five rounds of stripping the whole thing. The darkest color you see is the original stain. What you can't see is that beyond stripping the thing there was a lot of fix up work to be done. So I gave up and called in the professionals. They took it in July and I visited at the end of September after they stripped it as far as it would go.

They sanded the rest off and painted it for me. It turned out beautifully. Everyone should be surprised I did not go with a super neutral color. It is close to one of the colors of paint that was on it somewhere during its history. Now, I wish it could talk and tell me exactly where it came from and where it has been. I will probably print a copy of this blog to attach to it somewhere so when the boys are preparing to junk it after my demise they might be convinced to save it.

love and hugs and think before you slap another coat of paint on that furniture; someday some will be trying to remove that paint,

B