Christmas

Tonight we had a conversation about how comfortable our daughter's bed is and how it would be easy to fall asleep in.  Well, after 45 minutes of not seeing Kent, I had to check out the situation!

Christmas 2013

Grandma Carol flew up from California with us!  She helped the kids with a special sugar cookie project recreated from her first grade teaching days!

It can be so hard to pick one to eat!

Christmas day finally came!  The kids have been counting down for a week or more.  It was all about My Little Pony's and Rescue Bots this year.  Brooke was very excited for her new toys!

Oliver got a cute fireman outfit from his Kettle Falls Grandparents!

We got a chance to Facetime with family in Anchorage and Petersburg!

My Mom made a beautiful quilt for me!  It's so cozy, a wonderfully snugly lap quilt for the winter time.

It was time to make our Christmas sausage!  Caitlin and Britta prepared the potatoes and onions.

Oliver loves to be a part of a job.  The guys stuffed the sausage down in the basement.

The sausage ready to be boiled.  We'll have LOTS of leftovers this year!

Here's our Christmas dinner!  Korv, lutesfisk, potatoes, peas and lingonberries.  One of my favorite meals of the year!

California

We decided to visit our family in California for most of the month of December.

Our daily trip to the pool was a highlight!

Thanksgiving

We headed up to Kettle Falls for Thanksgiving!  Brooke and Oliver were so excited to go to their grandparents' house.

The lighting was perfect, so I took a few photos of the kids watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

We got to see Grandma Britta's chickens!

It was a snowy beautiful drive over Sherman Pass on the way home.

Bikes and Friends

The kids got new balance bikes!  Lots of their friends enjoy these bikes that don't have any pedals.  I always thought about getting them for the kids but thought they were a "fad".  After watching Brooke struggle riding with fear on her bike with training wheels I knew we needed to try something else.  Within two days on her balance bikes she had the balance part down and was really enjoying cruising around.  It took Oliver three days, but now he really can move!  One of the really fun parts of these bikes is the fact that we can take them "off road".  We had a great time going up and down the little hills at the Leavenworth Ski Hill.

We have been watching a friend's daughter for two days after school.  It's been so much fun for Brooke and Oliver to have an older friend to play with.