Winter Wonderland

What a treat is was to wake up this morning to Snow! Isabel's count down to winter was finally over. After 30 minutes of dressing, we finally made it outdoors. The kids had a blast making snow angels, throwing snow confetti, making tracks, of course eating snow and sledding. Our lot is on a slope and it's actually the perfect kid sledding hill. They can go down by themselves, they run into the fence to stop at the bottom, but it doesn't go fast enough to make a big impact. They love it! We did make a little snowman, but the snow was pretty fluffy and hard to pack, I think it satisfied the kids though, and who knows when it will snow like this again.

Ibby and Josiah with their mini monkey snowman

Josiah looks like a pro

Our yard is now filled with these beautiful snow angel creations

Loving the snow

My little snow bunny posing for the camera

Deck the Halls

Christmas time is here and we totally love it! We have had so much fun decorating our tree, making cookies, making gingerbread houses, and visiting all of the beautiful lights around the city. My favorite part is Josiah running around the house yelling "This is the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!" everytime we do something new. Last night we visited the Garden of Lights which is one of the most amazing events all year. The Botanical Gardens uses literally tens of thousands of lights to create these beautiful floral gardens, water scenes, animals, and more. It's like walking through the Disney Parade of Lights. It's so beautiful. Our favorites were the giant slug, waterfall, and spider all made out of Christmas lights. I tried to take a picture, but I just couldn't do it justice. Here are some pictures of our holiday happenings.

As you can tell, Josiah loved these lights! He kept saying, "let's see more!"

Martha Stewart in the making

You can't tell by this pictures, but Isabel's side is beautiful while Josiah's side is completely eaten

Ibby and Josiah so proud of their tree

Mommy and Josiah start the tree trimmings

Florida Sun

The kids and I also got to take a trip to Florida in November, which gave us a chance to thaw off the Seattle cold. We had such a great time with Grandma Kathi, Grandpa Tom, and Uncle Ryan. They totally spoiled the kids by taking them to the circus, bowling, mini golf, Chuck E Cheese, and the Children's Museum. It must have been a great museum because the kids still ask to fly to Florida to go to that museum, instead of ours, but I really think they are just looking for the sweets that Grandma spoils them with! They spoiled me by letting me sleep in and ordering out. It was really nice to wear shorts in the middle of November and go to the beach!

Loving the sand and surf!

Isabel among the beautiful trees I played under as a kid

Josiah loves that he can play outside in the warm weather

Every time we ride a plane there two lucky kids get to see the captains and wear their hats!

Happy Halloween

Yes, I know this was almost two months ago, but better late than never, right? The kids had a quiet Halloween, we just trick-or-treated around our neighborhood, taking a neighbor friend along with us. Of course, it was wet out, not really rainy, but wet, and the grossest thing was it made the worms come out in full force! We were literally trying not to squish worms with every step, so gross! Isabel loves worms though, so she thought this was the best. After a trip up and down our block, the kids were done, so I guess it's a good thing we just hung around here.

Mama cat and my little friends

Bat Boy and Cat Girl

Fall Fun

The Fall was so much fun, I love how it really lingers around here and watching the colors progress, it's really so beautiful. Isabel spent most of the season counting the days until Winter, proudly proclaiming each time "Winter is my FAVORITE season!" But we had so much fun finding all the leaves we possible could and making quite a mess of them. The first half of Fall was great, but as it went on, Seattle lived up to it's reputation, non-stop dreary days! Here are a couple of pictures of the kids playing in the leaves and enjoying a Fall day at the park.