Saturday, November 21, 2015

Let the holidays begin!!!

Brock and his "Thankful Turkey" - his list 1) My Daddy 2) A turkey 3) For Diesel & Oscar 4) My brother Kade and 5) Chuck E. Cheese (he specifically stated "No, not Mama")
We are SOOO excited for the holidays this year! (It really is so much better to celebrate with children) Brock has already started asking if Santa came - to which I reply, no - it's not even Thanksgiving yet and we haven't put the tree up! Brock: "Santa took the tree Mama." Sweet boy - yes, it's been missing since January, but no, Santa didn't take it with him!

I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet (I just told Brock that again now), but Christmas is all around us (cue Love Actually) and I think after Halloween is fair game anyway. :)
The moose above the fireplace all decorated for the holidays
We went to Bass Pro Shop today to see their Winter Wonderland, and of course, Santa. :) To be fair, Brent needed some items for goose hunting and he had money on a gift voucher that was expiring after today.
I think our family picture came out pretty good! Brock was NOT interested in sitting on Santa's lap (nor talking to him either for that matter). I figured this would be a good trial run for the "real Santa" at Bellevue Mall. ;)
Brock was super excited about the other activities. They had play bow & arrows for the kids to shoot ducks. Brent enjoyed them too....

And pretend rifles to shoot ducks, deer, bear, etc (we didn't shoot the bear).

Yes, it was a pink gun - they only had two and you get what you get and you don't get upset. ;)
Kade was there too!!
Last was a craft - coloring a wooden Santa ornament. I love this picture with Kade looking on in the background!
Brent helped Brock write his letter to Santa since he didn't want to tell Santa in person.... he didn't really understand this yet, but he liked putting the letter in the mailbox to the North Pole.

Super fun start to the holiday season and a very pretty drive down to Tacoma!

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Grandma is here in November!

We loved having Grandma here to show her all the fun things that we (Brock) do during the week! First up, art class on Monday!!

This week's activity was painting and decorating tree centerpieces. Since we finished that so quickly, Brock and Grandma went up to the front to paint and press leaves! Brock liked the pressing/hitting part the best.
Dab, Dab, Dab, Dab...
The tree looks really cute and will definitely be our centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner!

My mom got a glimpse in to my life as well... I'm busy. Brock is a little tougher these days and is learning to push his boundaries. He's very smart, speaking in full complex sentences and has a memory like an elephant. I think when he gets bored, he gets in trouble..... lots of trouble.
Kade is a pretty good baby, but needs assistance getting to sleep whether it's naps or bedtime. Naps are at most thirty minutes long, so it kind of takes a toll when you're spending the same amount of time just to get him to sleep! He's such a happy baby when awake - always smiles whenever I look at him and smile. He's so cute!

One of the days called for SUN, so off we went to show Grandma how close we really are to the mountains! We first stopped at Snoqualmie Falls.

I was told there were only a few steps on the path to the waterfall.... so not true; we ended up taking shifts with Brock to visit the site. It was amazing! Very, very pretty.
Pictures can't do it justice and I know that ours are not the best either. ;) Come visit and I'll take you to see it in person - it's only a 35 minute drive away!
We continued on I-90 (another 3,020 miles and we would be in Boston, MA) to North Bend for some outlet shopping, then finally stopping at Snoqualmie Summit to turn around. This is where Brent gave me a few lessons in snowboarding a few years back and hopefully the weather will cooperate and give us a fair amount of snow this year for the good of the ski season! (Last year was horrible - it was too warm for snow!!) To give you an idea of how high we climbed, we got on the highway in Issaquah, elevation 108 feet, and the Snoqualmie Pass Summit is at an elevation of 3,015 feet. Quite noticeable on the temperature gauge too!! Not bad for less than an hour away from our house!
Okay.... I'll quit with the numbers. ;)
What's a visit from Grandma without stopping at Chuck E. Cheese?? This was our first visit to our local C.E.C. too - I was reluctant to let Brock know that this wasn't just a North Carolina thing.
It was clean and the games all seemed to work - that's really all that matters, right? Brock was delighted again - he loved earning those tickets! He's getting better at skeeball too! He now throws sidearm instead of underhand and got a few 2000's!

Reading one of the Usborne books Grandma bought us
Brock and Kade loved having their Grandma here. (It was interesting to hear Brock refer to the guest room as Grammy AND Grandma's room) Oscar and Diesel loved the attention too - even if they had to share food with that little yappy white poodle. Mia was actually much better behaved and only pooped twice in the house on this trip. ;)


Thanks Mom for helping me out for a week cleaning, cooking, bathing, reading, and playing. We loved showing you what we've learned and our weekly routine. It was nice to have a little more time to talk to you - in between crying fits and hunger pains! Just hop on that nonstop from CLT anytime!

Happy Halloween 2015

The start of our Halloween festivities - Trunk or Treat at MOPS
Halloween was a blast this year for us! Brock was super excited to be Batman and told everyone about his costume and Kade's! Brock was definitely able to get his wear in - MOPS, Pre-school, and Halloween night!

His school had a "Fall Party" the last 45 minutes of the last October class and wouldn't you know it, but another Batman showed up! Kade and I came to help volunteer for the cookie decorating. You can see my child was impatient waiting for the frosting and sprinkles as a part of the bat's wing is missing. ;)

Finally it was Halloween night! Brent took Brock to a few houses in our neighborhood, but unfortunately the rain returned so it was a hurried experience.

The church our MOPS group meets was holding a Halloween Costume Carnival and it was the perfect way to safely celebrate the holiday, under cover! We attended last year and I think Brock remembered how much fun it was! He loved playing all the games and winning a piece of candy at every one!
Of course another fun feature was a gigantic blow-up slide sitting in the middle of the sanctuary!

And, another fabulous part of our Halloween this year - Grandma came in for a visit too!!
It was great having her here for the holiday so she could see both the kids dressed up in their costumes! Brock liked showing off his throwing arm too (playing the carnival games)!!
Kade, the puppy dog, and Grandma