Birthday, Recital, Gingerbread Houses

Zero Teen

Amelia just turned 10.  She is so excited to be in the double digits, hates the term "Tween", and since she can't wait to be a TEEN - she has proclaimed she is "Zero Teen".  Slow down girl - momma can't handle this growing up stuff!! As therapy I put together a slide show of the first decade of Amelia. 

Recital-Katie Irish Dance

Many have asked - here is a movie of Katie's Irish Dance Recital from this weekend. Katie is the tallest one in the middle. Sorry it's bit blurry, but you get the idea!

Gingerbread Houses

In celebration of such a busy weekend and to continue with our Christmas Festivities, we enjoyed building some Gingerbread Houses with Auntie T, J, and E!! Next year each kid gets their own - everyone has their own idea of what the Gingerbread house should look like!!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like the HOLIDAYS!

The holidays are upon us - I can tell this because we have started embarking on some of our annual holiday festivities.
Holiday Festivity 1:
Each year we try to attend a holiday show. We used to go see The PNB Nutcracker. Then last year I shook it up a bit and we went to see the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Show.  I love the Rockettes and had always wanted to see their show.  This year we went to see A Christmas Story: The Musical.  It was fantastic! A Christmas Story is Tony's favorite holiday movie.  We are subjected to the 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story on TBS every year on Christmas day. When I found out that the Fifth Avenue was doing it as a musical I knew it was the holiday show we HAD to see!!

Tony and Amelia are by the tree (it was a bit dark)

Holiday Festivity 2:

Going to see Santa at Nordstrom flagship store in Downtown Seattle. 

We waited patiently in line for only one hour this year.  

(Previous years we have waited up to 3 hours). 

We do this because the Nordstrom Santa IS the only real Santa!

Shoe Shine!

It's hard to put down a good book!

And then finally it is our turn!!!

I am really hoping the photo that the professional photographer took turns out better than the one's Mrs. Claus  took:

Holiday Festivity 3:

Riding the downtown Holiday Carousel.

Unexpected Holiday Festivity for this Year:

SNOW DAYS - 2.5 days of school cancelled, 1 day of work cancelled, lots of snow, and some sledding and celebrating in the freezing cold.

Just a Festivity: (not really a Holiday Festivity, but nonetheless a "Festivity")

On Veteran's Day we went to see the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.  In my continued effort to inspire culture and creativity in my family, I thought this seemed like a great opportunity.  

Two fatal flaws with my plan were: 

-Since it was a holiday it was PACKED with people (I really hate crowds and other people breathing my air). I thought since they make you buy a ticket for a specific time, that they would limit the number of people for each time slot.  It seemed they calculated the number of people for each time slot by taking the amount of people allowed per the fire code regulations and then squeezing in 10 more people per time slot.

-I should investigate the artist prior to embarking on a cultural experience.  Picasso's subject matter was not the most appropriate artistic venue for the 9 year old (and in some cases the teenager or the 40ish folk).  Amelia put together the fact that Picasso lead a very exciting life and that he had 2 mistresses at one time.  She increased her vocabulary with words such as promiscuous and phallic. She also discovered that the painting her art teacher has in the art room is one of his mistresses- "Do you think my teacher knows that is his mistress that is in the artroom"!

The day ended with a lunch of fudge and chocolate at Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory and a stop by the "Gum Wall" in Seattle on our way back to the car.  What is a gum wall you ask? It is disgusting - it is a wall under Pike Place Market that people put chewed gum on - and some of it is shaped into designs and words.  Not sure how this began - it is so disgusting I cannot bring myself to look it up. I could almost feel the germs emanating from the wall - EWWWWW!!

The only picture we took to chronicle our day of creativity and culture:

Amelia by the Gum Wall

Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year)

Hoping everyone had a wonderful holiday and wishing you all a Happy New Year.

Weeee'rrrreee baaaack!!! We have returned safely from a marvelous time in Maui. When we left yesterday the temperature was 85 degrees - when we woke up this morning in the NW - the temp was 25!!! We had a quiet Christmas morning and are so thankful of the opportunity to have had such a wonderful vacation. Working to settle back in to the climate as well as preparing for back to work on Monday - aargh!!

Here are some highlights as well as a few things we learned in Maui -
Did you know there are 15 ways you can tie a sarong?Did you know that Maui boasts some of the most beautiful sunsets - made even more grand by my kids in them!!!
My husband's new favorite shirt - not sure how a tie will look with this when he returns to work? Hoping he will surrender it so that I can wash it soon!!!Some of the rules for the trip - we found this list the first night in Maui at "Cheeseburger Island Style". I would love to say rule #1 was followed - however confined to a one room hotel with a teenager and a 9 year old - there was some whining!!!
I wish they always got along like that - in the wave is Boogie Board Dad - we couldn't get him out of the surf - killer waves on Tuesday and Wednesday - the ultimate for boogie boarding!!
The trip to Haleakala - 37 miles of winding road - but was worth the drive. On the way down - Kit was quite excited as we drove through the clouds - she was reaching out the car window "grabbing" the clouds and exclaiming - "I can't believe I am touching the clouds!" It was so fantastic to experience this through her eyes!!! I had never really thought about how spectacular it is to "touch" the clouds.
And now we have some sunglasses - K looks about 21 in her sunglasses - how quick they grow up!!
Boogie Board Dad - carting all the towels and gear to the beach!!!
Another Maui sunset with my beautiful kids - this was right before the Luau.

Random Christmas Things

Time for the Christmas Blog (yes I know it is a little late) :

First of all - Belated Merry Christmas, Belated Happy Hanukkah, Belated Happy Kwanza, Belated Happy Boxing Day - I am beginning to see a theme with the "belated" here - I do love a theme, but I hate being belated on anything - especially the holidays, but there are only 24 hours in a day and I can easily waste at least 2-3 of them surfing blogs, playing on Webkinz, and working to better my Nintendo Brain Age (I am down to 41!!).  

Christmas cards - they are on the way to friends and family - late. Sorry - I ordered them from Apple, chose standard shipping, and they were to arrive December 19.  Then the storms hit, the cards travelled slowly across the US and landed in Portland December 18.  I being the optimist was excited that I would be able to get them out in a timely manner - since Portland is less than 200 miles from here, they should be delivered Dec 19 or 22.  I readied my labels and address list and was ready to go. Well the cards decided to spend the holiday in Portland.  They were in Portland until December 26 when they arrived in Auburn.  Auburn is about 10 miles from our house. They stayed in Auburn waiting for a "Business Day Delivery" and were finally delivered on December 29 to my office.  What was so fun is that due to the electronic age and FED EX's efficient tracking system we could see they were in our hemisphere and just out of our reach!!!

With this blog, I can proudly say HAPPY NEW YEAR without the belated and hope that in the New Year the belated's will be at a minimum.

This year, deciding to be a minimalist (or more truthfully - lazy), I only put out a few favorite decorations - here are a few of them:

Santa - this was always on a little table at the door to my parents house.  This is a family "heirloom" - Mom has sent it to me (I think because she likes me best) and then I am supposed to share it with my 2 sisters who live 800 miles away. I am not sure on the rules or logistics of this, but when they see this, they will let me know what I am supposed to do. Rumor has it that one of my nephews thinks it is scary and freaky - so I might only have to share it with one sister. Now that you mention it - it is a little freaky - but this is part of the charm.

The final "upstairs" tree. This is the tree that we bought from the homeless lot (see previous post) and is for T's and my ornaments. Hard to believe but this is only about a third of the ornaments we have!!!

Christmas Card Angel Basket- she happily holds the holiday cards we receive. Note the plastic flowers - each year these little buggers fall off and disperse about the house. No amount of hot glue seems to hold them on. Duct tap is the next step. She used to hang in my mom's hall and I loved going through the cards over and over.  Now that she holds our cards, I still enjoy looking at the cards through out the season.  At the end of the season, I save all the pictures in  a box and then the next year I go back through all the years of pictures before I put the basket out for the season. It is so fun to see how families have grown and changed. Kids I used to babysit have now graduated college, and have children of their own!

More stuff from my mom- the snowmen were given to my mom by my aunt - they are actually tin cans decorated with batting material. "How clever" you say!! There were actually 2 versions of this - one was a set someone tried to recreate - this was the "fancier" set with the embellishments. I of course get the fancier version - remember I am the favorite. My sisters get to share the less fancy version. Mr. Snowman is missing an eye and every year I swear I am going to make a new felt eye - I do ponder - does he really need to see?  The little elfs in front of the snowmen are actually 2 sets -one from my mom and one from my grandma. I can remember playing with the set at my grandmas like they were little dolls. They were displayed on her big console tv (remember those - hers even had a remote control - wow!). I would rearrange them so that they all faced each other in 2 rows. Again - I think Mom and grandma gave them to me because they like me best!! I don't think I have to share these with my sisters - again I will wait for guidance from my sisters that are 800 miles away? I really like these little guys and this year I found out they are collectors items.  Okay - they were featured in Hallmark Magazine as collectors items, but still, collector's items nonetheless!! And it means there are others out there like me who enjoy little odd decorations such as these!!

The chime angels - I love this - it belonged to T's Memere.  My parent's had one and I was enamored with it.  I had purchased one for us, but it was quite flimsy and small and definitely not as nice.  This one is so special because it came from T's Memere. The girls love it and are mesmerized by it.  Angel our cat - is also mesmerized by it and unfortunately tries to chase the light from it as it dances on the ceiling and walls.  Therefore we have to light it only when Angel is napping (fortunately, being a cat, she naps alot).

This is the final version of the gingerbread house - turned out pretty nice and has stayed together now for at least 3 weeks.  

Check out the sled I made with a graham cracker and candy canes. This little sled is actually harder to put together and keep together than it looks.

Here is Ms. Mistletoe - she always hung on my mom and dad's dining room light and she now hangs on our dining room light. My mom always called her Ms. Mistletoe - but she is actually not mistletoe, but holly - she should be renamed Ms. Holly -but old habits die hard...  K made the snow flake - foam craft - she felt that it too should hang from the dining room light!!

The reason for the season.  

I am ashamed to say this is our only representation of the nativity in our Christmas decorations this year. There should be more of this and less of the other since the birth of our saviour is the reason for the season. 

Christmas Carols - my 2 favorites are Feliz Navidad and Angels We Have Heard on High.  The reason these are my favorites are - remember how sometimes you get the lyrics to songs wrong - well our precious kids have been singing the following:

For Feliz Navidad - "My knees la di da"

and for the part in Angels we have heard on high that is "Gloria, In Excelsius Deo" - they sing "Alexis has a fun DAY OH"

I struggled with whether to correct them or let the innocence shine and let them continue to sing "their" words.  They have since found out the "real" words and we now sing "their" versions laughing!

As I write this I realize how truly fortunate we are and I am thankful for the Christmas memories and the wonderful family and friends we have.

God Bless Everyone 

and 

Best Wishes for a Happy New Year.

Birthday, Santa, Tree, Recital

Sooooo much happening I can't keep up.

Birthday -

A turns 8 - we celebrate for a solid week.

I think we can move on to Christmas now!

Santa - we waited 3 hours in line at Nordstrom - some people think this is crazy. I think it is kind of fun! Free cookies and cider as well as watching all the families - some have been doing this for 30 years, some have just started. There was a baby 1 week old getting his first picture with Santa. Brought us back to the days of A's first Christmas -she was so small back then - and so quiet!!

A wants a calico kitten (real one). Santa says he does not do real animals as it is too dangerous. (Whew - Santa even says no to a kitten - poor kid)

K wants world peace and a flat screen TV for her room. Santa said, "Big order, I will see what I can do". I reiterate - flat screen TV for the family is a good idea!

3 hours is a long time!

Tree TIME

(T really isn't stoned - just overwhelmed with Christmas decorations!)

3 trees - I gave in - K and A each get their own "pencil" pre-lit tree for their ornaments. They each decorated their tree with their ornaments, just how they wanted. Both trees are a bit heavy with ornaments on the bottom. (Agreement that the trees and ornaments go with them when they move out!!)

T and I stuck with a traditional "real" tree for the upstairs and our ornaments.

We decided to stay in Kent to buy one and stumbled upon a lot selling trees. The proceeds from the tree sales will go to help fix up an old abandoned building to become a shower and laundromat facility for the homeless.

And now for the RECITAL!

and the movie version-