Maddie, Mary and I went to see the Nutcracker and then finished the evening with ice cream. Maddie loved the beautiful ballerinas, but was a bit scared with the eye patch man and the big rats. Of course we had to take pictures with every ballerina afterwards.
Both kids participated in the Christmas program. I was so proud of both of them- it was a bit overwhelming/loud/chaotic to have all those kids up on the stage , and they both tried their best.
This guy scarfed down his first spaghetti dinner
I spend a lot of time in the car, and there are certain times when I realize just how gorgeous this place is. The mountains are simply breathtaking on sunny days.
Levi started pulling himself up on everything. The doll house is one of his favorite places to hang out. He loves to grab onto the pole or elevator cord and eat the people. :)
These two love their nightly baths together.
We finally got a really good snow day! Overall, it was a super special day home with the kids. It also happened to be my moms birthday! It was a little tricky getting outside with having a baby that isn't walking because it's not like I could just plop him down in the snow. We took advantage of his nap times and built a snow fort and threw snowballs. We also walked around the neighborhood and made snow ice cream.
This year was my mom's 65th birthday, so we decided to pull off a big surprise and booked a weekend away in Vancouver. We had such a wonderful time together. On our way up, we stopped by a beautiful suspension bridge. It was a bit treacherous with the snow, so Kelsey and I stayed behind while my mom and sis ventured out.
That night we went to an incredible lights display. It was so enjoyable to be there without kids, even though they probably will have loved it. It was so nice to go at our own pace, stop at things we wanted to, not hear about being cold complaints, and just talk. It was so fun.
The next morning we did a little worship at the rental house, and then we went to Granville Island , where we enjoyed some delicious lunch and treats. To make the experience even sweeter, a beautiful choir started singing just as we sat down to lunch.
When I was gone, Ben took the kids to the aquarium with Austin and Finley on Saturday morning.
The kids finished up school for winter break
My sister gave me this hat and i'm in love!
Gigi and grandpa gave each kid a super cute Christmas outfit. Here is Levi in the cutest polar bear sweater ever!
We went to Evergreen Church for their Christmas lights display. This church does an amazing job serving the community every single night. They had delicious hot cocoa, homemade cookies, a great train display, heaters outside, polaroid pictures, not to mention the incredible synchronized light display!
Maddie and her bags. She doesn't play with a lot of toys, but boy does she love to fill bags with trinkets. Whenever we are missing something, we immediately look in Maddie's bags. You have no idea what you'll find!
Mommy goes to the beauty salon
Ben and I took our kids, along with Saisha and Harper to Bethany community church to make a gingerbread house.
We had another special experience at wild lights. The highlights once again were the penguin character and the zoomazium snowball fight. We also got some free cocoa!
Ben had the week off before Christmas. One morning we got to go out to breakfast at the Fat Hen. We had heard lots of good things about, but we didn't walk away totally wowed. Still wonderful to spend time together.
Later that morning, Maddie and I went to get pedicures together. She picked out both of our colors. She told me she wanted to get the color of our silver sharpie. Ha!
That afternoon, Colter and I had a blast at the Children's museum together. It was such a special day getting quality time with Ben and the kids.
We went out for a drive to look at Christmas lights, and then decided to surprise Nana and carol at her house. She was asleep when we arrived, and it took her a minute to realize what was going on :)
I took Maddie, Harper, and Levi downtown to the teddy bear suite and then to Pegasus coffee for a hot cocoa.
We kept up the gingerbread man tradition and the kids were good sports on pretending they still believe that he ran out of the oven.
We got some snow that morning, so the kids spent time playing outside. It's been so fun to have more snow this year than we have in several years past.
Levi started to crawl right before Christmas. We busted out the moving kitty toy and he loved it just like the other two.
Ben and the kids slept under the tree. I'm always amazed what good sleep the kids get when sleeping in unusual places like hotel rooms, camping, etc.
On Christmas Eve, we went for a beautiful, snowy walk at North Creek Park. We also played on the playground, and Colter and I found a painted rock in the woods. It was a part of a Facebook group called "Bothell rocks" We logged that we found it, and then moved it to a new home a few days later.
We went over to the Wornicks on Christmas Eve and went caroling, exchanged boogspace and cousin gifts, and shared a delicious meal.
Christmas 2016!
The kids were so anxious to open presents, it was out of control! I was so glad when everything was open so that they could calm down and start playing! My mom came over around lunch time and gave the kids their gifts. Maddie got a new bike, so we took it for a spin.
That afternoon we went over to my sisters for Christmas dinner.
Colter got a metal detector for Christmas, so we took it down to the beach to try to find some treasures. I had these grand visions of finding coins and other metal things, but unfortunately we didn't find anything! Fortunately Ben brought a few quarters along, so we would throw them down in the sand and Colter would think he found something.
Ben loves lego building almost as much as Colter. He asked for a lego set for him and Colter to put together. These two had a blast putting this together.
I took the kids to two different parks one day and it felt like the good ol adventure drive days.
Geting a picture with all three kids is super challenging. Our tree was getting drier by the minute, so I bribed the kids to do a picture together before taking the tree down.
I ran into my friend Jackie at zoo lights, and it made me miss her terribly. They moved to West Seattle a couple years ago and because of school schedules and the distance, we rarely see each other. We were able to meet up at the zoo and catch up a little bit. The kids played great together and it was so easy to pick right up like no time had passed. We've been coming to the zoo together since our boys were little babies!
On New Years Eve, a lot of people were sick, so instead of having everyone over for a party, it was just our family. We still had a blast with a huge balloon drop, party horns, netflix countdown, and Caliburger (which was not even close to In and Out) . This year went so fast , I can't believe we are on to 2017! Happy New Year!
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