Christmas Morning

Shall the Christmas posts continue? There's just so many fun pictures I want to remember! The boys managed to sleep past 7, so we were able to bring them both upstairs together and see the gifts from Santa. Owen received a wooden castle and Josh got a super cute rocking horse.

As a side note, Owen was near tears
when we returned back to Bend and
he realized that Santa would not be
making a visit to specifically fill
the stockings in OUR house.
He cried, "But he didn't bring me
a Bow and Arrow!!" Oops?

I love watching how excited the kids get about the simple things. Josh was more than thrilled by his own toothbrush and Owen squealed with glee and gave thank you hugs for everything he opened. Of course, he got double the fun of opening almost all of Josh's gifts!

I love how Owen looks so sad in these pictures. He just didn't want to take a break to take pictures. Merry Christmas!

Elves Party

Christmas Eve with my parents always includes our "Elves Party" - a tradition that has held since I was young. We bailed on plans to go tour the lights at the Bellevue Botanical Garden due to the rain, but that just gave us more time for music, dancing, eating, endless games of beanbag toss, games, and eating.


The boys opened their new Christmas PJs, and a few of their presents from my parents. Owen got a really cool set of MagnaTiles and Josh received a spaceship, complete with an alien in a crater that kept both boys occupied the rest of the evening.



Lacking a carrot for rudolph, Scott and Owen improvised with a... sweet potato. Hilarious.

If you're looking for a great family game for adults, the elves left us unassuming game of Anomia, which left us all laughing to the point of tears. The concept is so simple, but it's amazingly hard to think of the name of A VEGETABLE (ANY vegetable) before someone else shouts out A PIECE of FURNITURE. There may also have been an incident surrounding some missing hot buttered rum, but there's a rumor the ransom will be paid and no rum will be harmed in the process...

Montessori Party - Owen's Eyes

Don't let the title fool you. We haven't moved Owen to a new preschool. This Montessori Party is for MY Montessori friends. The ones we carpooled with 25+ years ago and continue to gather with each Christmas. We call this group our "Christmas Family" as we have really come to feel more like cousins than just friends over the years. The gifts have changed (we now collect games or puzzles to donate), the food and beverage have matured, the circle has widened to welcome spouses and growing families, but the friends remain.

This year, Owen was kind enough to be our photographer:

We were missing a few faces this year. Colin and Erin were home enjoying their 10 day old baby girl, Clare! Tyler, Kristen, and super cute baby William had postponed their holiday visit until January... so they would be sure to meet their new niece... who decided to show up as a quite early (but thankfully healthy) Christmas present. How does Susan look after welcoming TWO grandchildren this year:
It was a treat to welcome Jenna into our group (she and Ryan just got engaged!), hear Tim's stories from a life on the road, and encourage Ashley on her continuing adventures through dental school.
When the presents started flowing, Owen got out from behind the camera. He was especially excited to see Deanna again, as she has visited my parents down in Bend and endured quite a few tea parties over the last couple years.

Though we were short four "kids" but the kids table was still pretty crowded. Next year, we'll need a separate grandkids table to hold Owen, Josh, Clare, and William. This group is Todd, Tim, Ashley, Ryan, Jenna, Scott, Owen, and Myself.See, us Montessori kids know the importance of instilling the love of reading early!
See you next year Christmas Family!

Family Christmas

You would think after living here for 5 years and always traveling for Christmas, we would get our act together and remember that we need to set aside some time for our "family Christmas" well before we hit the road. This year was actually the worst planning, as Scott and I realized on a Saturday that our only chance for a family Christmas morning would be Sunday... the next day... With nothing wrapped... with a major shipment from Amazon.com scheduled on our door 3 days later. But never fear, we rallied, raced Owen to the store to pick out a gift for Josh, wrapped during naps and into the night, did a little gift plan shuffling, and made it happen.

I love that Christmas morning feeling to gather in your pjs, sip warm beverages, and just bask in the joy.

Boys got an easel...

This picture is great. Scott reading the book he picked out for Josh, while Owen holds one of his new cars and Josh holds the BBQ basting brush he "chose" for Scott (Not exactly "you break it you buy it" but if your kid chews and drools all over the brush while your shopping for the real gift - a cast iron skillet - I think the same idea applies.)
Scott and I decided on a low key Christmas for ourselves, though we recently made up for that with the purchase of a new DSLR camera. I do hope you start noticing better images here shortly, but the old camera was in use (when it wasn't dead) through half our holiday in Seattle.

After our family PJ morning, we had french toast for breakfast and rallied to church for Owen to sing with all the kids. And then, the snow. kept.coming. It was certainly a White Christmas for us! Tons piled up the night before and a solid dumping all through the day.