Our babysitter is a photographer!

 Last Thursday was Brent's work party in Bellevue and we left Brock and Kade home with our favorite (and only) babysitter, Georgia! Brock LOVES Miss Georgia!

 She brought her camera and these cool micro-lights that the kids were playing with during their photo shoot. Brock sure had some funny faces for her!

 She loved that every time she brought the camera up to take a shot of Kade, he was right there saying "Cheese!"

My goofy guys! So cute!!

Yup, she realized how hard it is to get BOTH of them looking good in the same picture!

And here's one more - the best picture of the bunch from our session with Picture People. They love their Christmas jammies and blankeys!

Trampoline Fun and Caspar Babypants!!

Last Saturday, Brock and I had a fun Mommy and me outing! The boys and I attended this event last year and I thought it was good enough to return! Springfree Trampoline in Issaquah held a gingerbread house making morning with opportunity to try out their amazing trampolines! What fun!!

Brock is really getting pretty good at bouncing! Just in the few minutes he was jumping, I taught him how to jump into the sitting position! We were working on the jump back out in to the standing position, but it needed a little more practice.

Off to decorate the gingerbread houses!! He's so cute in this moose shirt - thanks Beck!! ;)

Everything had a specific place on the house!

After our fun stuff, we had to go do some "work" and headed over to Home Goods/Marshalls to shop for Christmas presents for Daddy and Kade! Brock mostly enjoyed that too.... except when he realized he wasn't also getting a present that day. Hard life lessons Brock. ;)

Somewhere in this mix, I came down with a bad cold... I've been pretty sick all week. No fun whatsoever. I still have a lovely cough and a sexy raspy voice.

But anyway, the boys look super cute dressed alike for a night at the gym!! Black work-out shirts!

Finally today I started feeling better, so we met our favorite friends at the Fairwood Library for a Caspar Babypants concert!!

Totally horribly fuzzy pictures of Brock & Zoe (and one almost-18 month old crying for the camera), but the big ones LOVED it. They were jumping around and dancing the entire time!

He played some of our absolute favorite songs, so that was awesome - Stompy the Bear, Run Baby Run and My Flea has Dogs. Check them out on youtube - there's some cute little videos paired up to the songs!

Super cute besties!

Abbey posted a super cute collage of her photos, which I am now going to steal for my blog.

Can't believe we have four to look after now! And after the concert in the library, they sure didn't care to go the same way! Fun morning out for all though! :)

Visit to Santa and the K9 Candy Cane Fun Run 5K 2016

We went to see Santa!! After last year's debacle of waiting until Christmas week to go see the big man in the red suit (and waiting over 90 minutes), we were going early this year! We were second in line and waited 2 minutes. ;)

The boys were excited!! Well, Brock was actually really excited and finally figured out what he was going to ask for! (We prepped him in the car ride over). Kade did as expected and bawled his little eyes out, but Brock was awesome! He was a little apprehensive getting to sit on Santa's bench, but with a little help he actually told Santa what he wanted for Christmas and gave him a high five! So proud of my big boy!

I think he's just as happy as Brent that seeing Santa is check-marked off our list. ;)

Sunday was Brent's big run! It was the Annual K9 Candy Cane Fun Run 5k! I think I just like saying/typing it all out!

I actually snatched that BundleMe out of the consignment box to sell and threw it in the stroller - I figured it would stay better than a blanket and even though he'd be a little scrunched up, it would keep him warm! I think he was cozy in it - it was a chilly 35 degrees at race start!

All the racers ready at the starting line!

 This year I snagged a photo of the fastest dog - and I was right! This duo went on to win the whole thing with a time of 18:58! Good job Vizsla (the type of dog)! It seriously looked like it was just trotting along!!

And not too far behind was Daddy!! Brock and I cheered for him as he passed and he even had time for a little wave!

Here is Brent about to cross the finish line!

Congratulations Brent!! You completed the race at 23:50.8 - overall place 19th of 255 racers, 4th of 19 out of your division of Male 40-49, and All Male: 17th place out of 81! You bested last years time by almost a minute at 24:41! So so so proud of you!

Even though Diesel is retired, he still comes to check out the doggie-racers and cheer on Brent! And of course it's a tradition - he has to be in the picture with Santa! :)

This year I was festive and had Diesel wear his Christmas bandana

Getting ready for Christmas!!

We start decorating for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving!! The Christmas tree went up and the lights were checked for outside installation! Oscar was a big help with the light-check this year!

I don't think he minded one bit all those LED lights laying on him - they kept him warm!

On Saturday, we decided to make the trek down to Tacoma's Bass Pro Shop and see Santa! I absolutely love this picture! Next year we're getting our holiday pictures here (still a chance on Pottery Barn's sofa, I haven't decided yet).

Bass Pro has a really cute set-up - a whole children's activity area in "Santa's Workshop" - riflery games, monster truck remote-cars, Santa letter writing and a craft of the day! That day's craft was a cute ceramic penguin ornament to color - Brock and I snagged two and completed the craft from the comfort of home!

Brock and Kade both tried to be just like Daddy! I think Brent's eyes in the picture above say it all - he's got his work cut out for him. ;)

What's a visit to Bass Pro without stopping to see the fish?!?

Nice "family picture" with Santa. Sad faces from both boys, hoping the next time we see Santa it will go better!

On Tuesday, we met the Klein family at Chick-fil-A for a quick dinner before heading to the Garden d'Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. I really do love this exhibit every year! It's sized perfectly for our aged children and really done so well!

Fun fact for this year: The time to create a plant is at least 2 hours, with complicated plants taking up to 40 hours each. The average life span of a "plant" is five years, with a few lasting up to 10 years!

Kade at bottom right, enjoying "The Aquarium" feature

Brock has also discovered my gloves and LOVES wearing them! 

 We picked a great night to go - no rain and not too cold! Kade was loving being free - him and Ara just wanted to run/walk the entire path!!

The adorable Klein family.... with Ara done with picture time and ready to see the next critter! Some really intricate ones this year we spotted: blue heron, parrot, turtle, dragon and and an owl!

I'm sure the kids' favorite part was the end when we just let them run all around in a circle chasing each other! Yes, get your sillies out now! It was great - both of ours were in bed asleep by 7:45 that night!! (Brock usually goes to bed 8:30 - 9pm)

And last, but not least, we have to show off the newest addition to our house - Kevin, the Christmas Minion. Brock is thrilled about him!