Calgon, Take Me Away...

It's not just this room, either!!! If only I could find my magic wand. Then Christmas would be perfect. :o)

Tree Decorating Story

Oh yes, I forgot to include the little story about our helper, Griffin. I was busy getting the lower branches clipped and getting the needles vacuumed up and the lights on while the rest of the family was busy ignoring all of my directions to stay out of the ornaments until I was ready to help unpack them. Kyle was letting the kids get into all the breakable ornaments and all of the sudden they came across the Huskies ornaments. Sophia was so excited and pulled a few out and then Griffin found a glass ball. Well what do little boys do best with something that looks like a baseball??? He threw it across the living room to his Daddy. Unfortunately it hit the step stool first and shattered! I rushed over to clean up the glass and was about to basically say "I told you so" to Kyle, but realized I didn't need to. It was his favorite Rose Bowl ornament... I figured that would help him remember that sometimes he should listen to the Mommy also. :o)

Oh Christmas Tree

And what a big one it is this year! Wow. I'm glad Nick and Kora were at the tree farm with us to help Kyle get it cut down and loaded up.

Griffin loved helping with the decorations.

Sophia did the lower half of the tree practically

by herself and did a great job!

The kids went up on the ladder much higher

than Daddy - he's not really one for heights. :o)

It is probably the prettiest tree we've had. But, we

will probably try to scale it back next year to save our backs, though!

Happy Birthday, Papa Dan!

I can't believe that my Dad turned 60 this year! I guess that means I'm getting pretty old, too! The kids helped me make a cake. Sophia is very good at cracking eggs. Griffin helped pour in water and oil. They both helped clean the beaters!

We just made a small cake (dark chocolate), so I had leftover batter for mini cupcakes that I topped with white frosting and sprinkled with candy cane.

Happy Birthday, Dad. We love you very much.

Choo Choo!

Alderbrook & Santa

We stayed the night at Alderbrook on the Hood Canal this weekend. We love it there so much! The kids both had a great time and so did Kyle and I. It was so festive and everything was lit up and decorated so adorable. We had a Christmas tree in our cottage and it was all so perfect. Sophia really had a lot to tell Santa this year. Griffin payed absolutely no attention to him. He was too preoccupied with the electric train circling the giant mantle of the fireplace.

Our pretty girl!

Santa is Sophia's new best friend.

This was the second time she went to talk to him!

The kids both loved swimming.

Griffin loved the top step in the hot tub (which was perfect for me, as I'm not much of a cold water person.)

Sophia swam and swam. She's such a little fish!

I need to get her into swim lessons. I know she would love it!

So tired by the end of the adventure.

They both fell asleep on the way home.

A perfect end to a perfect weekend!

I Still Can't Believe It!!

Sophia has been going back and forth on wanting to cut her hair short ("like Piper's"). I asked her again on Tuesday and she still said she wanted to cut it short, so I took her to Jack & Jill's and we had it chopped off! It looks amazingly cute. I just keep staring at her. She looks about 2 years older now. Most importantly, though, she loves it! So I'm glad I got the courage to do it.

Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving to all. We had a lovely time with the Hussey family at Kora and Nick's house. We tried to get a few family pictures this year, which was fun and challenging! Sophia is and always has been a perfect little poser, but Griffin is not. He is too busy to sit still for pictures! Abigail (pictured below) is like her big cousin Sophia - a pretty good little model! She is so cute!

Griffin was a little nervous about the game Uncle Richie was playing with his baby cousin Abby... He had to remind her that she was upside down!

And finally the feast! Ours was delicious - Sophia's was interesting. She had a piece of chocolate pudding pie, cheese and ritz crackers, the little peas out of the center of one sugar snap pea, and a sucker from Uncle Richie. Awesome.

Motorcycle Ride

Griffin had his first motorcycle ride with Uncle Joe today. He luuved it!

Home Depot Field Trip

Sophia's preschool recently took a field trip to Home Depot. It was part of the Homes and Habitats theme, or something like that. They went on a tour of the store and learned about all the materials you would need to build a home. Then each student made their own bird house!

Baby Shower for Bailee

Last weekend the Hussey ladies hosted a baby shower for a close friend, LeAnn Fluke. It was extra fun because the baby was born 7 weeks ago and we all were able to meet little Bailee. I didn't get very many pictures on my camera, so this is about it. I made the banner with the help of my new cricut machine, and I also made the cake. My inspiration for both was the invitation for the shower that Deniece found at Party City.

My Little Man

Griffin LeRoy - what a cutie and a stinker at the same time! He's 19 months old now and not a baby at all anymore. He understands basically everything we say, even though he doesn't say a lot of words on his own yet. But he is really starting to "get it." He knows our routines and our rules. It doesn't mean he always complies, but he knows. I've even warned him with a time-out a few times now and he totally understands that. He's communicating really well with nodding his head and pointing and babbling and some of his words come out. It's been great.

He is FINALLY sleeping in his own crib all night long. He's always woken up a lot at night, but now he seems to understand that we are all sleeping and we will all wake up happy in the morning. Two nights ago I put him to bed and he stood up and wanted to throw a fit. So I sat in the rocking chair and talked to him a little bit and told him to lay down and go ni-night. After a little bit he grabbed his pillow (he had thrown across his crib) and his blankie and set it all back up and lied down and covered himself up. It was so cute.

Today he was getting ready to take a bath and was standing naked in the bathroom. This is usually when he intentionally pees on the floor. But today he walked over to the toilet and put the little Dora seat on top and wanted up. So I set him up there and made sure the dinker was aimed right and sure enough he concentrated real hard and peed in the toilet!! Then after his bath I was drying him off and he started peeing (on purpose) so I reminded him to get on the toilet. He walked over to it and I set him up there, and he peed in it again! I'm so glad he's interested because I think Santa might have a little potty chair for him. That way he can hopefully stand up and pee in that one.

He's such a joy. And even though this age is pretty exhausting, I love it!

Teeth Cleaning

A couple weeks ago we headed up to Smokey Point to get our teeth cleaned at Dr. Hussey's. Unfortunately, Dr. Hussey and the other members of our family were out on a conference. But the hygenists were there for us. Sophia had a cleaning, and Griffin got a little check too.

Thanksgiving Craft Project

Last year my Aunt Marcia sent Sophia and Griffin the adorable little post cards in the picture below. I loved the prints so I saved them and packed them away with the Thanksgiving decorations. This year when I pulled them out I started thinking how I could display them. So I found this little red box in my gift wrapping stash, took a brown crayola marker and some glue...

And Voila! A cute, free, decoration for my mantle. How fun!

Abigail Turns One!

My sweet little niece, Abigail, turned one last Saturday. Kimberly and Zach threw a wonderful party. Kim always does such great parties, and this one was no exception. I was able to get in on the fun party planning, too. Kimberly asked me to do the cake and a banner. I also did a few cupcakes. Everything looked so adorable.

Those chubby cheekers are hard to resist!

She explored slowly at first, but then really dug into her first cupcake!

PAAAAARTY!!

Griff was so excited to help his little cousin celebrate.

The best way to end a frosting filled day - a bath, of course!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Little Cupcake Abigail. We love you and love watching you grow. Congratulations to Kimberly and Zach on this milestone for them as parents. You did it! You raised a happy, healthy, beautiful baby! What more could you ask for!?

Good Morning!

It was just too beautiful this morning not to take a picture.