Eastery Time

Christmas 2010

It was a great Christmas this year. The kids were sooooooooooo excited to open presents.

Kaylee showed us an ornament that she decorated at preschool:

They were very excited about thier new train pajamas and have practically lived in them since!

Christmas eve we spent alone as a family. Jeff got done with work early and we got everything ready for when the kids would wake up from their naps. We spent the evening eating, talking to family on phone and on skype, and of course, opening presents and playing with new toys.

Christmas day we went to church and Uncle Brian came over for the rest of the day. The kids just go wild over that guy!

I just LOVE this picture of my little man:

This is adorable as well:

Now that Christmas is over, we look forward to New Years and the arrival of baby #3.

Halloween 2010

NEMO
and a Unicorn!

We were fortunate to have Jeff parents visiting with us over Halloween. I don't think I could've been brave enough to take the kids out trick or treating without some help! This year we went to Sunset Square and visited all the shops. It was a little chaotic, but a lot of fun. Hudson seemed terribly confused by it all. I suppose he wondered why he never got free candy in these stores before, but since he dressed up as a fish suddenly people were practically throwing it at him. :)

Christmassy Fun

This year I finally had the energy and lack of sanity to do some fun Christmas "crafts" with Kaylee. Hudson helped pick up any strays that made their way off the table.

We made some sugar cookies to go with our tea.

I also glued together some graham crackers as a lazy way to make gingerbread houses. How lazy was I? I used store bought canned frosting too! I figured the kids wouldn't know any different. This was a project we did on a day that Kaylee's friend Emily was over to play. I've never had these kids occupied and happy for so long!

Here's Kaylee's house:

And here's Emily's house:

The Sunday before Christmas was Kaylee's very first Christmas play performance. She's always been so shy. I've often wondered just what she'd do if she was put in front of a crowd like that. But she did great. She was well behaved and often tried to sing along - with very exaggerated mouth movements (very funny), but of course was easily distracted by the other little ones around her.

The teachers told us they thought she would probrably be the dress lifter this year (there always seems to be one every year, right?) So we joked about drawing something on her belly, like "Amen" or "Hi Mom". Turned out she was able to refrain this time. Oh well...

For those of you who get our yearly video, you'll get to see it next year!

And of course, no Christmas program would be complete with out a bag of treats!!

Christmas Lights

Just thought I'd share some pictures I snapped tonight as Hudson and I were playing out in our dust of snow. It was snowing a lot harder in Lynden when we were at church this morning. Kaylee and Hudson had a great time playing on the church lawn in the snow. This is the first time Kaylee enjoyed the snow instead of being freaked out by the white stuff sticking to her shoes. Hudson was delighted with the snow and seemed to have no fear.


Anyway here's the front of our house...
Our lovely wreath...

And our "red, white, and blue" Christmas tree...

We usually have white lights on the tree. Last year we thought we'd try blue. It was a little to "dark" for my taste. So this year we decided to put them both on. With the red bows and many red ornaments, it turned out to be a very patriotic tree! I love it.

Oh, and one more picture of my manly little man on his big sister's tricycle. Real men ride pink!

p.s. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I just got pictures from my spontaneous trip to MN in early November and I also will be posting from our recent trip to the WA/OR coast. So stay tuned!

Stoney Ridge Farm

Fall is my very, very favorite time of year. I love that we have a yearly tradition of visiting this farm for pumpkins, apples, animals and... donuts! Yes, this farm has donuts! I think I could get used to farm life, especially if it's a donut farm!

Waiting for the tractor... Last year Kaylee was too scared to go near the tractor. This year, she couldn't wait! Hudson is just drawn to anything that's loud, so he was no problem!

It didn't take long for Kaylee to find her special pumpkin.

Hudson can't wait to get down.

Typical... Kaylee likes the cute little ones. Hudson heads off full speed across the way to where all the big pumpkins are!

Our first ever corn maze:

It was all I ever dreamed of, and more...

Again, it's impossible to get a decent picture of Hudson. He's too busy to be bothered. He doesn't seem to care about anything but just going wherever he's going. Occasionally he'll stop, but only when there's some good dirt and rocks to be found.

Time to get mom & dad's pumpkins.

Here's our pumpkin family:

Then we got some apples.

Then it's back to the farm to see some animals.

Hmm....

Grandma K, this one's for you:

They had goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits, ponies, horses, cows, ducks, and peacocks.

This is why I don't usually let Jeff use the camera. Apparantly, this is more interesting to him:

Well, at least one of us thinks he's funny!

Last year a freak downpour forced us into this little bit of heaven. That's when I discovered the cider donuts.

Yummmmmm!!!

The last stop was the playground. I love letting the kids have fun outdoors getting as dirty as they please, then scrubbing them clean in the bath tub at the end of the day. There's just something so satisfying about that!

Kaylee climbed her first tree:

Then back to the car for lunch on the drive home. Hudson passed out about halfway and didn't even stir when I put him down to bed. When the kids wake up we'll have a pumpkin-washing party outside!

***Scratch that... Three hours later and those kids are still sleeping! I guess I'd better go wake them, as much as I'm enjoying this long reprieve. I just went outside and noticed we got a nice chill breeze coming out of the northeast. I think we'll leave the pumpkins as they are and put the kids in a nice warm bath instead!!***