advent

we have an advent calendar...otherwise known as "the count down to christmas" since we hold no religious affiliation.  the kids open the little door everyday...sometimes there is a little chocolate treat, sometimes some lip balm (their little lips are so red from the cold!), sometimes a note to call and sing 'jingle bells' to a grandparent (i think the grandparents each secretly all hope their name is on the note every year), and often time there is an 'advent activity'.  the advent activity is something that we traditionally do as part of the holiday season like 'breakfast with santa', or 'hood river tree lighting', but one of the kids most favorite advent activities each year is the candle light bubble bath.  its my favorite too....so sweet!

ho ho ho

a few pictures of our holiday happenings.....  the kids all snuggled on the couch to watch 'rudolph the red-nosed reindeer'

 .....getting our tree, the kids cut it down this year.... we didn't touch the saw!!!

 

.....zoo lights!! and it wasn't raining this year!!

 

.... fa la la la la!!!

happy hanukkah

we celebrated hanukkah at our good friend steve and janet's home. they live just down the street from us. both todd and steve were 'stay at home' dad's so our kids have basically been raised together (and really behave more like siblings....it's quite sweet).  they are a close as we have to family in this little small town of ours.  anyway we celebrate hanukkah at their house every year....the latkes are amazing.  the past few years they have expanded to include neighbors and friends and its really turned into such a wonderful celebration.  the kids helped light the menorah and steve leads us all in prayers. the kids enjoyed a game of dreidel.... which looked more like gambling that anything else...but who am i to say.  lovely gathering to celebrate the festival of lights.....it is a highlight of the holiday season!!

thankful in breckenridge

we traveled to colorado for thanksgiving, and actually spent the holiday up in breckenridge.  we shared a big house with todd's family and todd's sister-in-law's sibling's families (did you follow that?). they were all from the south with those accents and charm.....very lovely people.  we played games and relaxed, chatted and of course ate and drank (a lot)!!  todd and i enjoyed revisiting our breck memories from those pre-kids days.  all and all it was a holiday to be thankful for.    unfortunately we have very little in the way of pictures to show for the event.  certainly did not capture the group at large but managed to get a few shots of us with todd's mom and aunt and uncle on the day we left. 

we have so much to be thankful for....health, family, beautiful children, so, so much. hope your thankgiving was delightful as well!!

all i want for christmas is...

...my two front teeth!!

two nights ago lucy's front tooth came out, then last night the other one came out too!  the tooth fairy is going to be busy in our house...two nights in a row!!

indoor soccer

lucy has been having a great time playing indoor soccer....and todd has been coaching so its been fun for both of them.

and is playing with her best bud lani!

halloween

we had a great halloween season with unbelievable beautiful weather.....

a visit to the pumpkin patch, on a crisp clear fall day. we picked out our pumpkins, sat on the tractor, went in the corn maze and got our annual rasmussen farm picture.

....and the big day!  lucy got some cowboy boots this summer and has pretty much been wearing them non-stop, so she decided what to be based on the boots.....and boy was she the cutest little cowgirl in the world!

riley agonized deciding what to be, but eventually settled on a wizard...

todd was a punk guy...

...and i was hallo-wonderful! the kids were giving me a hard time because i don't ever dress up, so when they asked what i was going to be i said i was going to be 'hallo-wonderful'...and that i was pretty sure that involved a cape.  so i borrowed a cape, bought a wig and then raided lucy's dress-up box for the bling.

we went for our traditional trick or treat downtown, met up with riley's best friend jack

there was this super freaky costume downtown....this guy is a big fan of halloween!

... the kids reviewing their loot at the end of the night

it was a happy halloween!!