My 34th Birthday

December 12 was my 34th birthday. I know, I know, I am getting so OLD! ;) Anyway, that day happened to be the kids' Christmas program at church. So the kids got all dressed up and of course, I had to take lots of pictures of them in their Christmas outfits!!

The greatest Christmas gifts I could ever have received. :)

Brothers

Big bro and sis

Little bro, big sis

The boys are kind of in the middle. I know, I need a better camera. Someday...

Sadie got to sing a duet, she did great!

After church we went to Red Robin for my birthday lunch. I had my birthday burger... the Banzai Burger! It was soooo yummy!! Chrissie, Aaron, Marie and David joined us!

The kids just love their Auntie and Uncle!

We had a lazy afternoon and then I went to Bible Study, where we had an ornament exchange and a special December birthday dessert. All in all, it was a great birthday!

The Final Product

Growing up, my mom saw to it that I had at least one new ornament every year (and she kept a record of when I got them and from whom). She has made sure that the tradition continues with my kids, and Tony has some ornaments from his childhood as well. Needless to say, we have a LOT of ornaments and the kids just love going through and finding their own special ornaments and getting to put them on the tree!

All done! We are super happy with our beautiful tree this year!

The Hunt For A Tree

Every year we go to a local tree farm, called Loch Lolly, to cut down our tree. We have settled on the Grand Fir as our favorite and know just the right spot on the farm to search. The kids have a blast running among the trees and playing whatever games kids play (usually shooting games, since we have two boys!)

I love this picture!

Zack being silly

And... we found the ONE!

Of course we had to take a million pics of everyone with the tree.

"Helping" Dad cut down the tree

The kids found tons of ladybugs. They must like Christmas too!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, my mom and brother came down from WA and they joined us, along with Tony's mom and step-dad, for dinner! It was my very first time hosting Thanksgiving, and first time cooking a turkey! I think that everything turned out pretty good!!

Yum, she was delicious!

Mom helping me set the table

The whole family!

My mom and Tim

Grandma Marie and Sadie

Drew (and fork) and Dad

The kids showing off the dance moves they learned at the summer weddings

After dinner, Drew decided to cook us some more food!

Preschool Program

Wow, I am so behind! I will do my best to get this blog caught up!

The day before Thanksgiving, Drew's preschool class had a little program. They sang a ton of songs and it was just about the cutest thing EVER!

Saying the little prayer they say before snack every day. Oh my, they are just too cute for words!

Just Drew!

Drew with his pals after the program

Grandma Marie and Papa David came, too!

Drew and his teacher, Mrs. Lesowski

We Elved Ourselves!

This is for you, Mom and Aunt Jeanie, and anyone else who reads my blog but isn't on Facebook!

Mommy-Son Date

Being the third child, Drew kind of has gotten the shaft a bit when it comes to doing fun things such as the zoo, children's museum, etc. that Sadie and Zack got to do before Drew came along. I have decided to remedy this, especially since Kindergarten is looming in the not-so-distant future. Wah! Anyway, I recently took advantage of the free passes offered by our local library, and Drew and I went off to the Portland Children's Museum. It was so fun to watch him explore everything and to just be able to focus on Drew.

First he checked out the grocery store.

"Find everything ok, ma'am?"

Then he tried for about 10 seconds to play with the HUGE Lincoln Logs.

Then he found the kid-sized bus,
and ambulance with real lights and walkie talkie!
THEN, oh my, Drew found the FACEPAINT! He was absolutely thrilled when I told him he could actually color on his own face!

Starting out with a red clown nose

Then a little black over here

Ooh, and a BIG black line across the forehead!

Tada!! (This was finish #1. He went back about 4 more times!)

Then we checked out the water area. That was pretty darn fun. And wet.

I adore this little guy!