ho ho ho...

We had a fabulous holiday this year. Both Jeff and I had the week off from work and Ethan was out of daycare so we had a bunch of fun family time. We got to visit with a lot of family and friends and Ethan was so excited for Santa to visit. We had to make sure that our fireplace was not blocked so that Santa could come down the chimney and eat our cookies and milk that we left out for him. We had a great Christmas morning opening up presents as a family and playing with our toys after the craziness was over. Then we headed up to Bellingham for dinner to visit with Grandpa and family. Thanks again for the wonderful dinner and hosting us all dad and Jackie!!! And thanks Alison and Sid for hosting us on Christmas Eve!!!

 (Hanging out with his cousins at Grandma and Grandpa Herron's)

 (Ethan's present to me. He picked it out himself because he wanted his mom to have a girl dump truck and magic wand to play with.)

(Castle from Grandma and Grandpa Allsop.)

(Our Christmas Tree)

Merry Christmas!

We had a holly jolly Christmas this year. Ethan was a very good boy, something that he kept reminding us all the way up to Christmas Eve. This year was a fun one since Santa was finally in the picture and Ethan was well aware what Santa brought on his sleigh, presents! And what did Ethan ask Santa for this Christmas? A Mickey Mouse and a dump truck and luckily Santa's elves were able to make both of these.

(The elves working into the night on Christmas Eve)

(Santa's gifts of a Puppet Theater)

(Home made cookies and milk for Santa in case he was hungry)

(Christmas morning. Ethan became a master un-wrapper)

(Ethan putting on some shows)

(The Christmas aftermath)

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas this year and with New Year's right around the corner it got me thinking about New Year's resolutions. What are your New Year's resolutions? Mine are listed below.

• Be more creative. I plan on doing more sewing, painting, becoming a better photographer, and hopefully learning to play some guitar this year.
• Have more family fun adventures that include getting out of the house more and just enjoying nature and each other's company and also plenty of travel I am sure. I got a new camping stove for Christmas so I hope to have a few camping trips under our belt this year. Of course that most likely means staying in a cabin but we will still be using the camping stove. :)
• Updating my blog a little more often. Life goes by to quickly so its great to take a snap shot of it every once in a while before it passes you by.
• Being healthy. But isn't this on everyone's list? ;)

Santa Visit.

We made our annual excursion to the town of North Bend to take the train and visit Santa Claus. The weather turned out perfect which equals not to chilly. We bundled up just in case and had a great time. You catch the train at North Bend and take it to the town of Snoqualmie. Once there you get to go and visit Santa and a toy, followed by cookies and hot chocolate in one of the rail cars. It is a great time, even if you don't have kids and want to go on an old fashioned train ride up in the mountains. You can check it out here if you are interested - Santa Train.

Ethan for some reason did not want to look at Santa but he did tell Santa what he wants for Christmas, a Mickey Mouse and Dump Truck.

Christmas Photo's...

I finally had some time to upload a couple of our Christmas pictures from opening presents Christmas morning. As you can see, Ethan must have been a very good boy.

(Christmas Eve after Santa arrived)

(New Elmo phone and dad's candy)

(Chef Ethan cooking us breakfast)

(I didn't know that kids got excited about wooden food but I guess they do)

Merry Christmas!

Yes, I know that I am a day late but with the hussle and bustle of yesterday I did not have time to make an update. I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas. I know that we had a great Christmas and Ethan made out like a bandit from Santa and the grandparents. This year was the first year that he actually opened the presents and paid attention to what was inside instead of just the boxes and wrapping paper. The only problem is that everything he got he wanted to open immediately and with all of that tape and fasteners that toys now have it took a very long time.

For Christmas dinner I made a ham and we had my dad, Jackie, and her children and grandchild over. We had a great time and no one left hungry.

I still have to upload my photo's from the big day and promise to do that in a few days when things settle down but here is a picture of Ethan on his new bicycle that Santa brought. He is still getting used to it since it is a new bike but he seems to like it. Enjoy!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Since it was the day after Thanksgiving and we had nothing better to do we decided to get into the Christmas spirit and go and pick out our Christmas tree. Jeff is a stickler about the looks of the tree and is likes to look for the perfect one that is the perfect size as well. We decided to do things a little differently this year and instead of having the tree by the fireplace moved it over near our stairs instead. We found one really quickly, actually Ethan picked it out by falling into it so it was a keeper and we've already decorated it.