Easter Weekend

Saturday Easter Egg Hunt with the Cousins!

And they are off!

The Girls.

Back home with the loot!

Then we had a nice afternoon with the family in the sun and great food!

Sunday Celebrating that Jesus is Risen!

Making resurrection rolls with the girls and Zach.

The kids singing at church.

So thankful for my family!

Final Glimpses of 2012

  

LOVE these pictures of Santa we got at the Seattle Nordstrom's!

      

                                     Paddle boarding Mrs. Claus.                                    Christmas light tour!

Christmas Eve at Grandma's House

We found the kids snuggled up watching a movie waiting patiently for the time to open presents. So sweet!

They were all excited about the Star Wars that Zach got!

Elissa loved the American Girl doll bunk bed!

Grandma loved the wood canvas that Holly & I got for her. Holly took the picture & put the quote "A Grandparents house is where cousins become best friends".  It turned out really nice.

  

Darin & I scored from the Boyd's!

We won't mention the little incident of Chad having to drive all the way back home for a wild goose chase. :-)

Zach was buried in the back on the way home. LOL!

After our 9pm Christmas Eve service, we hurriedly decorated cookies for Santa.

  

Ratcheting batman wings I tracked down on ebay.

  

Meet Elizabeth (Lizzy), Elissa's (Lissy's) American Girl Doll.

  

The kids showing Nana how to play games on her Kindle Fire. Classic.

Then Grandma came over with her's and they were teaching each other. :-)

Zach brought Grandma the photo album of his first year. Sweet.

I always….always forget to get family pictures on Christmas.

  

ANNUAL SEATTLE WEEKEND

        

We look forward to this weekend all year long.

We think we have been doing it since the year we got married……10 years.

We always go to Benihana's one night and then try a new restaurant the 2nd night. This year we went to The Brooklyn. So, so yummy!

Great times.

The sunrise the last day of 2012.

Our New Years plans changed at the last minute.

Kirstin text'd that Payton had the flu. :(  We picked up the kids from Patty's and planned a Star Wars movie marathon with them. Come to find out, you can rent Star Wars on any of the streaming media. Then Elissa's next door neighbor friend called and asked if she could spend the night, so we let her. She went and had a grand time. We watched Return of the Jedi that was airing on TV with Zach and then went to bed at 10:30pm. I know, lame.

BUT I'm excited for 2013!

My word for 2013 is CHANGE.

I know there is a lot of change coming with moving to a new house and all the ups and downs of buying and selling that will come. I know that there is change in store that I'm not prepared for. I'm praying to go through the change this year with grace and thankfulness.

Happy New Year Everyone!!

1 Day til Christmas

I ♥ these girls!



It has been a couple of years since we have been able to have our annual breakfast together before the New Year and this year we got to have it on Christmas Eve.....what a blessing!

I have been having Christmas breakfast with them for 13 years. I think they have done it a year or two longer. These days we look forward to it even more because we don't get to see each other as much.

It is hard to find friends who love you through the good and the bad (bad attitudes and all) and I'm fortunate enough to have found 3.

So blessed!

********

Christmas Eve with the Grandma, Grandpa & the Boyd's

Zach loved his "night fury" dragon with a 2ft wing span, noise and fire!

As you can see, Elissa was estatic to get "go go my walking pup". I'm not sure if anything else could top this present from Grandma & Papa.

The kids had so much fun playing together. They were all pretty good about letting each other play with their new gifts. They would play with something and then move on to the next new toy. It was pretty fun.

Holl ~ I love, love, love my necklace. Thank you!

Then we went home to decorate cookies for Santa and to check on where he is in the world. :-)

Go to bed kids so Santa can come and fill your stockings!

All New Thanksgiving

Thursday, 11-25-10

The food may have been the same, but everything else was different.

1. There is snow everywhere! Can't remember the last time we had snow on Thanksgiving.
2. Zach made a snowman by himself.
3. I made oatmeal pies for some of our neighbors and the kids and I delivered them. That was fun surprising everyone!
4. I made a new appetizer and pie and they were both ok.
5. For the last 7 years Chad & Holly have hosted Thanksgiving and this year my Mom did.
6. Patty didn't come to Thanksgiving. She chose to stay home, enjoy the holiday shows & stay off the snow and ice.
7. No child in a high chair. They all sat at their own table. All kids 3+ years.
8. Dad, Chad and I nervous for Sunday because we are running the Seattle Half Marathon together.
9. We left Mom & Dad's and took the kids into Seattle to stay at the Warwick for the night so that we could watch the parade in the morning.

Grandma got them yummy Coldstone Cupcakes!                                         They are suppose to be closing their eyes for a present.

Grandma made them each a pillowcase and gave them their Christmas PJs early.

I love Elissa's face here! She is so excited because she told Grandma that she wanted a hot pink and black pillowcase because they are "rockin" colors. Grandma even found fabric that have guitars on them. :-)

Now Chase, not so excited. He wanted a toy. LOL!                                                                            Zach really likes his PJs.

 

What did they end up liking the best?? The fabric ties Mom used for their presents. They all tied them around their heads and became ninjas. Funny kids! Cole and Lissy are hiding under the table. Love them!

Our hotel room had a great view of the Space Needle.

The kids loved going to a hotel and being able to go swimming. It has been awhile. They were surprised when John, Renee, Tommy & Tyler showed up! It was a fun evening hanging out. But no one had fun the rest of the night. For some reason Elissa was up on and off all night and she made sure that everyone else was up with her too. Not to mention that we both had a double bed with a child next to us. They were relieved when we finally let them watch TV at 6:30am. Maybe it was a little early to do this???