Solstice and Chirstmas

Okay so I have started this post about 5 times.. but never got that far.  This time I WILL finish it.  So solstice as great again this year.  The night before we had a nice dinner with a yule log cake for desert.

The kids both got to open one gift (the one from each other)  Aiden looked at the Woody doll that Natalie picked out for him and got the most disappointed look on his face and said "why did you get me this? I didn't want this... I wanted a Buzz with wings that came out"  And thus began the season of getting and the first of many talks about being thankful for what you get and that if you don't want it I'm sure someone else does.

When it got dark we lit off fire works in the street then watched a movie

 We stayed up late waiting for the eclipse... the kids actually made it until it was fully covered... then they both fell asleep outside wrapped up in blankets.

 

 

Watching the moon..Natalie kept saying "bye moon, bye bye... PEEK"

Opening presents... Natalie's something to wear

Her something she wants... BONGOS from Daddy!

On our walk on Solstice afternoon..., Natalie is such a HAM

Aiden's something to wear, a bit big but I got a good deal!

And then on the 22nd we headed up to Portland for Christmas... with tree decorating...

 

Cookie making with Nonnie..

  The Grotto Festival of Lights... Interesting but not worth the money.  Jesus wouldn't want us to spend that much money to see that little... but now we've done it.

And we got to go with Auntie Jessica (who we haven't seen since before Natalie was born) We had a great time together making fun of the whole racket!

And then it was Christmas Eve.... and Uncle Ryan and Shanda came up... The kids got matching PJ's as always

Aiden was so happy to have Uncle Ryan and Shanda there, and he really seemed to get into the Santa thing this year...

This is Natalie's version of Aiden's squint look.

The kid stockings were OVER FLOWING... what lucky kids!

Just before bed... almost time to open a present...

.

they both got a magnetic story board, Aiden got Pirates and Natalie got a fairy tree house

then we put out cookies for Santa and apples for the reindeer, next to the tree so he wouldn't miss it and off to bed with the kids.  We had to all promise Aiden that if we heard something in the living we would come and wake him up so he could talk to Santa.  He just wanted to talk to him.

 Santa came!! and brought the cash register that Aiden had asked for in his letter to Santa (just by the hair on Santa's chinny chin chin... it showed up at 4 on Christmas Eve)

 He brought something else too, because we had to have a plan B

Amazingly with the tree surrounded by gifts they were happy with these two things and their stockings!

then we made the mistake of letting Aiden open Uncle Ryan's gift of Lego's... then nothing else mattered.

so we actually opened gifts in a few shifts allowing them to play with what they had, and they were fine with it.

Natalie all dressed up for the day

Uncle Ryan as a doctor (or priest)

Uncle Ryan won the prize of the best gifts... a baby for Natalie.

Mee-meeing Lollie

Lego's with Uncle Ryan

Blanket houses just for fun!

Cousins!

Like Aiden's look?  Family dinner!  All in all we had a great time with everyone, we LOVED the time we had with everyone but it's nice to be home. There... I got it done and I only wanted to quit Blogger about 5 times.  (and then there was the time Loren closed the tab when I was up-loading the pictures) yeah...

Want to see more pictures?  Here is a LINK to the whole album!  Enjoy!

Happy Holidays

So I've been away from this space for quite some time.  I guess all the Holiday crafting got the better of me.  But now things have slowed down so let's catch up!

Ryan, Shanda and the dogs came to visit us the first week of December... We took the dogs to the dog park and then they helped decorate the Christmas tree.

Natalie fell in LOVE with Uncle Ryan and had to be with him all the time.  It was SO cute.

We tormented the Dogs with Antlers...

And the kids had a great time decorating the tree... Natalie has mostly stayed away from the ornaments, she has pulled the feet off the frog and decapitated a flamingo... but Loren was able to fix them with super glue

Natalie just LOVES her animals, especially Sam

Here she is with her beloved Uncle Ryan

I asked her to stand in front of the tree... she set this up herself

Loving each other.  They are playing so much better together these days.

With both of us laid off we have been going on almost daily walks... here Loren is riding Aiden's bike... cute huh?

Our tree... We went out to get our tree at a local tree farm and when we got there they showed us their price sheet (I had already set my sights on a "big girl tree" after years of 3-4 foot trees at the old house) and they wanted (gasp) 80-100(!!!) bucks for a 8-10 foot noble... Seriously???  That's highway robbery, and we told the guy that, lucky for us there was a 'bargin coral' of trees that we assume people cut down then refused to pay 80 bucks for.  So we got this tree for 15 dollars.  It was the quickest tree trip in history.

I even made Natalie her stocking finally (furthest on the left).  Last year she just used mine and I am working on sewing Aiden's stars on with embroidery thread.  When mom and I made them for Aiden's first Christmas we just glued then on as the pattern suggested.  But every year one or two fall off and need to be re-glued so I figured I'd just sew them.  Now he has informed me he needs many little stars to go with the big stars.  We'll see.

It has been so much fun to have room to decorate the house.  Mom and I even got outside lights and put them up the day after Thanksgiving.  Yep, we're that kind of people.

and GIANT snow flakes... these were just to annoy Loren with :)

Festive greenery and our cute little nativity scene.  We also have a cute bear one that we got last year but Natalie has been moving them around and throwing them so they had to be put up out of harms way

At Fern Ridge Damn on a walk

The boys

When did this little boy of mine get so big?  He's growing out of things left and right!

We even got some snow before Thanksgiving... not much but enough to make the house look pretty.

and for the kids to go outside and play in.  Natalie was busy trying to wipe it off of everything.

Aiden LOVED it, as did the dog.

here he is making snow angles... his way..

I asked him to smile for me.... this is what I got

Thanksgiving my mom came down and we did the whole spread.. it was nice to have her help and company...

Loren even helped with... I had to take a picture of it!

MMM... I love thanksgiving, any holiday that is just about food and family is good with me!

Natalie hamming it up in one of my old dresses. I have more pictures to post of gingerbread houses, and men, bird decorations, crafting fun and what not but this is a good start.  We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season!

this moment

{this moment}  inspired by Amanda Soule- A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

With both of us off work we have been away from the computer enjoying our family time.  I can't say I've missed it...please forgive my sporadic posts...I have kids to play with and peppers to can!!

Grammie!! (and pumpkins)

 Grammie came to visit for our annual Pumpkin Patch trip.  We went to Thistledown as usual.  

 Natalie was a little clingy and made it difficult to get good pictures of her out there, but we had a great visit, apart from them being out of apple cider... the NERVE! 

 Natalie picking cosmos!

 Look at how much fun they were having!!  Remember how sweet and cute they looked last year??

 Daddy showing Natalie the buggies

 Natalie and Grammie in the corn maze

 Off the boys go... pumpkins in tow

Grammie's Mouse House... Isn't it cute?? we went and collected the sticks and use our mice from last year... I love it!

 Aiden collecting sticks (truth be told he was complaining about it but shhh... )

Natalie in the grass looking very disheveled... messy hair and all...

Roxanne also brought downs some hosta starts and we pulled up the ugly looking plants that were in the shade garden and started something else... you have to imagine how it will look when the hostas come in full and beautiful in the spring... and I'll put in 2 or 3 more toad Lilly's and some flowering shade plants that I saw but can't remember the name of... stay tuned for the splendor in the spring!!

We were sad to see Grammie leave but look forward to her coming back again real soon! 

This moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

one last picture of the gang (Natalie is off screen crying...)

This week we had to say good bye to our dear friend Maren and her two wonderful little boys Elias and Soren.  They are moving back home to Wisconsin (we did try to get them to stay).  Our little group that started so long ago as a group of lonely stay at home mamas in Springfield and our first babies that in many cases weren't even crawling will never be the same without them.  We have been through second pregnancies (most of us) together, house hunting, moves, sibling rivalry, knitting, felting, cooking....Often this is the only group of people that really understands and always has the time to listen.  Maren, super mom who had bread baking before the rest of us got up, had already ridden her bike to Eugene with the kids in the trailer to weed her garden by 10, then canned a  batch of ... something, made cheese followed by spinning some wool into yarn before ending the day knitting a sweater with her hand spun wool!! 

We'll stay connected through glory of the Internet until their visit next year "when it stops raining".  I guess I better get my butt in gear and start being better about my blog! Happy Travels my friend, we'll miss you! 

ok... who skipped ahead in my life?? I can't be 30... can I?

yep.  30.  Not sure when it happened but it's been a wild ride I've learned so much, met an amazing man, started a family, bought a house and made and lost countless friends. 

 Here's to the next 30 years, and whatever it may bring.