Grandma is on Santa's Nice List

Merry Christmas Grandma. You asked Santa for kisses from your Grandkids and he said you were a VERY good girl.

Joy

I am so thankful for the joy the kids bring into my life. Here is an example, a song they "wrote" together in the car and sang for about half an hour.

Traditions

I think growing up in winter-less Florida has caused me to be a little over-zealous with the winter traditions, but I just love this time of year in Seattle. Here are some of our favorite holiday traditions:

-Macy's Holiday Parade
-Decorating the house and tree
-The Garden 'd Lights
-Reindeer at Swansons
-Christmas Lights in Loyal Heights
-Sledding in Snoqualmie
-Making Gingerbread Houses
-Making Advent Wreaths
-Advent Calendar from Secret Garden Bookstore

(One tradition sure not to make the list is driving to the mountains for our own tree)


Here are some pictures of the kids making gingerbread houses today with their friends.

Great Wolf Lodge

Thanks to homeschooling, we were able to get an amazing deal at the Great Wolf Lodge. We had a great time playing at the water park, swimming, and playing video games. That place is amazing. Here are some pictures...

The bedtime clock tower show

Storytime with the reindeer

The view from our room

Chritsmas Tree!

This is a picture of our beautiful Christmas tree!

This year we decided to get adventerous and go to the mountains to get our Christmas tree. For just 10 dollars you can buy a permit that allows you to go way up in the mountains to pick and cut your own Christmas tree. We were so excited and decided to make it a whole day adventure and take the kids sledding as well.

Isabel having fun in the snow

Josiah getting ready for his first sled run

The kids pretending to be panguins and slide down the hill on their bellies

We had a blast sledding. We found a little place with the perfect size sleds. Unfortunately, Asher didn't like sledding, so we had to take turns with him in the car, but it was a good excuse to get warmed up. It was really fun!

Next we headed up the mountain to get a tree. You have to go to a designated area, so we started up the mountain. It was a bit scary because it was really steep and there was no guard rail on the two lane road. But we finally made it and it was breathtaking. The kids were pretty tired, so here is Jason pulling Josiah up the mountain on the sled.

Asher didn't like tree huntng either, but he stayed a bit. Unfortunately Josiah was quite cold, so after 20 minutes, I took the boys back to the car.


Jason brought Isabel back and then headed back to claim the tree he found. I was a little nervous because it wasn't a Noble Fir like I expected, but he had just spend an hour looking for a tree, so I wasn't going to say anything. When we got home, he said, "look here's our tree," I just gasped. It was the most hideous thing I had ever seen. So I nicely asked if he could go to Lowes and get us a beautiful tree. 20 minutes later, we had the tree you see in the above picture. Ha!

But we did get to enjoy this breath taking view, so it wasn't for nothing!

And Reindeer Too!

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is going to Swanson's Nursery to see the real reindeer, this year they made it even more fun and added a Camel and a Donkey. Swansons is so much fun because it is absolutely beautiful at Christmastime with all of the trees. Not only do they have reindeer, but they also have an amazing Koi pond, a beautiful garden restaurant, and an enormous display train, and fun play house outdoor amongst all of the Christmas trees. The kids also get to ride around in a red wagon. It's such a special time!

Josiah didn't want to ever leave the train

Riding through the trees

Comet and Blitzen, the reindeer

Enjoying a sleigh ride

Feeding the very hungry koi

According to Josiah, the "just right sized house for us, not too big, not too small"

Enjoying God's Creation

Saint Edwards State Park

On the way home from dedicating Asher at church today, Jason said, let's do something today to enjoy God's creation. Well, for awhile I have been wanting to visit Saint Edward's State Park, so we packed a lunch, bundled up and headed to the eastside.

When we got there, the kids had a blast climbing trees, playing in the amazing playground, and jumping in leaf piles. Then after a picnic lunch, we decided to hike down to the beach, only accessible by trail. Jason decided we should take "the most difficult" trail, that might as well have a real adventure! The kids were excited about their dangerous journey. The hike was only .4 mile, but the cliffs were steep. The beach was beautiful and we were even treated with a small waterfall.

It was quite a wonderful day!

Tree Climbing

My favorite thing at the park!

Gotta love Fall leaf jumping

Expert hikers!

My boys at the beach. Beautiful!

Resting after a long hike back