"You Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

We made gingerbread man cookies after school the other day. The kids loved it and Kate even made some for her neighbor friends. I had just swept and mopped the floor before Kate and Preston came home from school that day. I don't know why I do it when it's just going to get messy so quick. Sure enough, Lindsey took a gingerbread cookie and crumbled it to a million pieces all over the floor, not to mention all the sprinkles that fell on the floor too. haha! Oh the memories! 

Snowflake Lane

Snowflake Lane in Bellevue is a family favorite activity for Christmas time. My parents and Marci met up with us on Monday night. We ate at yummy Cheesecake Factory before then headed outside for the fun festivities on the sidewalk. It wasn't raining and that was a miracle because the forecast for all week was rain except for Monday. 

Snow Princess

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer 

I had left her heavier blanket in the car so we got lots of looks from people when her bare arms would show. It was chilly, but she was a good sport and was so good.

My little brown eyed Lindsey Loo Who!

These girls and the drummer boys would march down the sidewalk while we watched and danced to the Christmas music. It's very festive. The toy soldiers on stilts would hand out candy cane suckers. I think my kids got 2 each, "hey do you want a sucker? I already have one. Do you want another one? Yeah" That was the conversation I overheard one have with Kate. haha!

Listening to the drummer boy play with the music. I just love the ambience there!

Such a good picture of my Mom with Preston

Me with my Mom and Marci

Our crowd :)

Kate was dancing with this girl and then she let Kate hold and play her tambourine. Kate was lovin' it!

After Snowflake Lane, Kyle took the kids home to put in bed and I stayed with Marci and my parents to go shopping for my Dad's Christmas present from us kids. Kyle had met us there from work so I was driving his car back home. Well, when I went to start it it wouldn't start. The battery was dead. I was in a parking garage and could see where my parents were parked and they were just backing up to leave so I hurried and called my Dad. They came over to help me, but neither of us had jumper cables. My Mom ended up driving around to find security who eventually came and jumped my car so I could  be on my way. Kyle had left on 2 overhead lights when he was looking for his phone he dropped. I was glad my parents were there to help!

6 Months Already?

Chelsea turned 6 months on Sunday December 9th. She is growing up so fast. I've really enjoyed her as a baby because she's so good and easy going. Her latest trick is getting up on all fours and lunging forward. My days are numbered until she's crawling! Ahhhh! It's been nice to not have her mobile and still content sitting in her car seat. 

Here eyes aren't blue or brown...not sure what color they will end up, green maybe? 

Her hair is dark still, but I think it's lightening up in some areas. 

I think she's losing weight...sad day...I love her double chin

She got her first tooth on Sunday, bottom left

Still not eating baby food- not a fan.

She wears 9 month clothes

She is smiley :)

One of my lil' sidekicks during the day while Kate and Preston are at school.

"Watch out! Here I come!"

And there's a nice picture of my 1/2 toe (the one caught in the lawnmower when I was 4 yrs old). haha!

        

She's learning to hold her bottle.

She has a cold and a cough right now. Poor baby! Her nose is raw and she woke up one morning with her nose to her upper lip covered completely with dried green snot/boogers! Gross! 

We are so glad Chelsea's in our family. She makes us laugh and the kids have fun with her. (Maybe they will change their mind when she starts getting into their toys and wrecking stuff- haha!) I'm so glad she's healthy and strong and adorable. 

Festive House

On December 1st, we decorated our tree and cut out snowflakes to put on our windows so our house feels all festive. My red walls go great with Christmas and Valentine's Day. :)

We decorated gingerbread houses with friends for Family Night last week. This kit from Costco is the BEST kit ever. The house is pre-built and all the candy comes with it. Best $10 you'll ever spend. 

We went to our Ward Christmas Dinner last weekend. Santa didn't show up (!) so Mark Watson stepped in and made a pretty darn good Santa and the best part is kids weren't scared of him at all. 

A Spanish Branch meets at our building now and their youth and primary kids are combined with ours. So right before Thanksgiving, we got bumped back to late Church. We were going to change at the beginning of the new year anyways, but I liked 9 am Church because the kids got naps and we did too. ;) Now we have Church at 12:30 pm and there aren't any naps and kids are cranky. One bonus is we get to chill in our pajamas for a while in the morning before getting ready for Church.

New Job

Kyle started a new job in mid-November with D.R. Horton. They are America's #1 home builder and the Seattle/Portland division is in Kirkland which is only 15 miles away. It usually takes a 1/2 hr or so with traffic. He is an Entitlements Analyst. His other job with Union Bank was good while it lasted (5 min commute!!!), but he was ready for a change. That job was a dead end job with no growth and it wasn't even a long term job, which we knew that going into it. So when this job came up and his friend/co-worker knew a guy that worked there it was a good time to switch. We were very happy he got offered the job. What a huge blessing! From his first interview to the offer it was 2 weeks so it happened quick. His boss at Union Bank was a little surprised. We are hoping he really likes this new job and can grow with the company for many years.

Thanksgiving 2012

We went back to my parents house for Thanksgiving. (We like to spend lots of money on gas. :) We have gone over 3 times in November! Good thing it's semi-close.) We drove over on Thanksgiving morning and traffic was amazing. We deal with lots of traffic over the mountain pass, but this time it was a dream drive. Kyle was in heaven. I didn't get any pictures of the beautiful table or amazing spread of food my Mom prepared. It was yummy and we had fun visiting. 

Preston trying to help Kevin with this hard puzzle. Preston is really good with puzzles but this one may have been a little advanced.

We did the cousin Christmas gift exchange on Thanksgiving because everyone was here and it's more fun to give a gift in person. The kids had lots of fun opening presents.

Preston LOVED his gift from one of Jeni's kids. It was a big Emily train. When I asked him what he wanted for Christmas he would say "big Emily" and that's it. Well, I guess I am done with him for Christmas now. When I gave Jeni the idea, I told her she'd probably have to order it online and she ended up finding it at Target! 

After dinner, presents and dessert, all us girls headed off to Tri-Cities to do some retail therapy on Thursday night (early Black Friday) since that's when most stores start their sales now. Sadie had a lot of things on her list so we all divided and conquered at Walmart and she got everything she wanted. My Mom was in line for a kitchen and there were only 8 kitchens and she was the 8th person in line so she got one! She said she felt like she won the lottery. haha! I was in charge of Barbies and I was supposed to get like 3 of each kind (that's a lot!) and when it was time to "go" there was some pushing happening all around me and it was insane! Barbies fell over...it was a mess! I was stacking Barbies up in my arms and they were falling out and it was stressful. haha! Jeni and Sadie were nearby getting other toys so they came over to help me. It was funny. Then getting out of the chaos to where Marci and Sara were, which was in a check-out line b/c they had amazing positioning at their toy pick-up spot, took forever b/c the aisles were blocked with swarms of people. I had to push my way through and finally made it to them. We were checked out by 8:15pm and the sale started at 8pm. We were successful! I've never been to Black Friday shopping and it was crazy! Then we headed to Toys R Us and my Mom, Sadie and I got dropped off. Marci, Jeni and Sara (with Zane) headed to Target. After Toys R Us, which it was calm inside there, we decided to just walk up to Target b/c Marci and Sara were standing in line for a camera so it was easier to walk. It wasn't far away, but with all our purchases we looked like Santa Clause hauling our bags over our shoulders. We had lots of laughs and good memories were made. We met up with them inside Target (they had lame sales and looonnggg lines). The camera Marci and Sara wanted sold out 2 people ahead of them so after all that wait they didn't get one. Boo. We got some popcorn and icees then headed home. We got back to my parents around 11:30pm. Not too bad!

On Friday morning, my Dad and Marci took all the kids except for Chelsea, Baylor and Zane, on a hike up in the hills/mountains. They found some caves and went down a steep hill all crammed illegally in the truck! They came back talking non-stop about their hike. They loved it. I didn't think Preston or Lindsey would make it, but they even had fun and did good. Guarantee now the kids will want to go on 'hikes' more often. We had some family drama unfold so that kind of put a damper on things. But what family doesn't have drama, right? That's when we learn to forgive and move on. We played a few games, but took it easy the rest of the day. 

We packed up and left my parents Saturday morning and headed back into Tri-Cities to see Kyle's family. We picked up Dee Ann and went and saw Grandma Great (Arlene). Here's a cute picture of Chelsea with her. Lindsey was wanting to play with all her breakable trinkets and tea sets. ahhh! 

I thought this was cute of all the kids with Grandma Dee Ann.

We went back to Dee Ann's house, ate lunch then put Chelsea down for a nap. Then we set up her Christmas tree and decorated with her. The kids had fun helping. It's not a clear picture of Dee Ann, but I liked Kate in the back putting the ornament on the tree. We stopped by to see Melanie and the kids before heading home. And of course, we had to stop by Miner's in Yakima for dinner on our way home too. Yum! Now onto Christmas...can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone!