2016 - Year in Review

Whew!  Another fun year, nearly in the books.  While it's been a great year, we have lots of planned in 2017 and are looking forward to the new year.  But, before we think ahead, here's a quick look back at 2016.

Cole turned 2 early this year and around that time, he started in the Early Preschool class at school. He's doing great there and we just adore his teacher, Ms. Kelly.  He got rid of his pacifier ('bink'), went on his first camping trip, moved to a big boy bed (we converted his crib to a bed much earlier than planned, after he climbed out a few weeks ago), and has been dabbling with using the potty.

Jackson turned 5 this year, learned to read and has moved to chapter books, is writing much better, loves math (and has moved into multiplication and division), started Kindergarten, learned to tie his shoes, ride a bike, and started gymnastics.

We went to Whistler with the Barths in January and Kauai with the Reeders in May (and have a trip back planned next May!). My mom and I enjoyed a girls' weekend in Palm Springs in March. Corey and I went to Vegas over the 4th of July weekend, ran a 1/2 marathon in San Francisco with friends in July, and celebrated his 40th in Portland with the Reeders and McNeills.  Corey visited Spence and Renata in Olso as a birthday present, and he, the boys and my dad went camping.

We had a great holiday season with lots of celebrations and family time at home together, and with our families.  We wish you all a wonderful 2017!

Holiday Festivities!

It's been a whirlwind holiday season as we've enjoyed tons of fun activities over the last few weeks.

It all kicked off with our annual visit to Snowflake Lane.  As per usual, the boys loved it. We lucked out this year with close parking, light crowds and rain that stopped just as the show started.

Then we spent one evening driving around looking at all. the.lights.   One of our favorite houses with lights set to music that plays on the radio was no longer participating, but we did find some other nicely decorated places, and even another house with coordinated lights and music.

 

As usual, we visited Santa. Happy to report no tears from Cole this year, and Jackson actually had specific gifts to ask for, for the first time ever (a remote control train, magnetic calendar (like the one in his class), and Jack & Annie books).

 

 

Gramma Joan and I took the boys to A Very Merry Sammamish earlier this month, where they saw a real live camel, played in fake snow, had their faces painted and heard local elementary schools performing Christmas songs.  It was a fun event to help us get into the holiday spirit.

 

 

One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is receiving holidays cards/photos from friends and family near and far, which we display in our kitchen and often look at and discuss during meals.

Elvis the elf made his annual appearance on December 1st.  Jackson has enjoyed the whole Elf on the Shelf thing for a few years now but it was fun to see Cole get excited this year to get ready in the a.m. so he could come downstairs to help Jackson find him. I wised up this year and saved some ideas on Pinterest since I remember running out of fun hiding places and activities pretty quickly in years past. After finding Elvis each day, the boys enjoyed opening their chocolate advent calendar.

 We attended the Gossetts' annual holiday party and had a blast. Even Santa made an appearance (and brought gifts!), which was an amazing surprise for all the kiddos. 

 

 

  

We enjoyed a play date/gift exchange with Hadley one morning, and everyone loved trying out the Pie in the Face game Hadley gifted the boys.

The boys played at Ellie's and made gingerbread houses one morning, which they loved!

The boys helped me decorate the tree, and loved every minute.  We always decorate over Thanksgiving weekend so we have time to enjoy it, but I'm not going to lie, after 5 weeks of the tree and decorations taking over, I think I'm ready to take everything down and get organized this weekend.

 

We all enjoyed lots of time with Gramma Joan, Uncle Elliott (who was in town for two weeks!), my parents, Grandma, Scott & Anya.

 

 

J & Cole decorated sugar cookies - a favorite activity for them, and lucky for me, it leads to lots of delicious sugar cookies for me to enjoy (they're one of my fave desserts!)

 

We spent Christmas Eve with Elliott and Joan, and the boys received their first round (of three --- they're so spoiled!) of presents.  Jackson was SO excited about Christmas and Santa's arrival, he spent much of the day tracking Santa's progress around the world online.  He wrote Santa a note and left out cookies and milk for him to enjoy, while Cole left carrots, pretzels and water outside for the reindeer.

 

 

 On Christmas morning, it was just the four of us and J & Cole opened their presents from Santa and from us.  They had a blast opening everything and then playing with all their loot.  Later that day, my family arrived for gifts and lunch, and then Joan and Elliott joined all of us that evening for dinner.  I just love spending time with family during the holidays.

 

 

 

Corey couldn't help but buy J his own Tesla as our main gift this year.  #likefatherlikeson

I still can't quite believe Christmas is over and we're nearly into 2017, but we've had a great few weeks, and are looking forward to a yummy dinner at John Howie on New Years Eve with the Reeders.

Happy Holidays!

A quick note to wish you a happy holiday season.  Will be back soon with a recap of all the fun holiday festivities that have kept us busy and entertained.  Until then, Merry Christmas!

Halloween 2016

Whew!  What a whirlwind the last few days have been with lots of fun Halloween celebrations. 

Things kicked off on Saturday, when we went to the boys' first carnival at a nearby elementary school with some friends.  Jackson was a zookeeper, and Cole was his crazy parrot (wearing the costume J wore when he was two!). They loved the games and activities, and seeing their friends Jameson and Preston, who they went to their previous school with.

 

 

That afternoon, we went to a super fun costume party at the Gossetts. The boys went as a police/SWAT man and firefighter.  We all had a great time, and loved seeing all the costumes everyone came in.  One of the dads dressed as Olaf which amazed Cole, who has been loving Frozen lately (I think he thought it was really Olaf).  Corey and I got a bit creative and dressed as the song "Cake by the Ocean".  

Jackson absolutely could not wait for Halloween this year, ranking it right up there with Christmas. He'd been talking about how excited he was for over a week, and could not contain his excitement the day it finally arrived.

The boys' school had Halloween themed activities planned in class and then went trick-or-treating around the school and in the assisted living facility next door.  I helped out in Jackson's class and had a blast.

The Grammas came over that afternoon so they could trick-or-treat with us. We headed out a bit earlier than normal given that it was a school night and the rain seemed to be holding off for a bit, and luckily we were able to make it through our entire neighborhood before the downpour began.  The boys loved every second of tick-or-treating, and it was so fun to see their excitement over it all. This was the first year Cole actually enjoyed it, and he did a great job running after Jackson, helping pound on each door, and saying "trick-or-treat!" and "thank you!".   Once we returned home, they loved handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters that came to our door.

We all snacked on too much candy and stayed up a bit late, but deemed it totally appropriate given the occasion. What a fun Halloween it was!