A Christmas Wish Answered

Avery has been wishing for snow the month of December. I think she remembers last years snow storm and assumes that Christmas's are always white.

Well she got her wish today. It started to snow and the kids ran to the window to gawk!! Jake then turns to me and says, " My work here is done."



The beginning:

The kids went out to play with thier friends and even Cassy joined in.

Avery, Emma, and Jackson

Check out the size of that snowball!

Grace:

After the dust cleared

After the dust cleared from Christmas wrapping paper.....and the skies were still blue, we decided to take a quick trip down to the newly remodeled beach cabin. We got down there in the afternoon and went straight down to the beach with the remaining sunlight hours.

The beauty of this place never disappoints. We've been going down there for 12 years and the smell of the salt air is just as comforting.


Three Rocks and the girls all bundled up:

You can see Jake in the background getting ready to catch the football. He is getting quite good, "you touch it, you catch it" is the motto.

This giant tree had moved in the surf when we went down the next morning. The power of the ocean is amazing.

Bri and the kids.

We walked through the tunnel to the other side. The tide was still pretty high and we had to run to the rocks to stay dry on a couple of occasions.

Jake and Grace

Avery is always such a comfort to Grace. This is our trek back up to the cabin.

A view from the front door. All the white in the picture is actually the ocean.

A view from the kitchen.

The girls in the loft watching a movie.

Notice the latter up to the loft. You didn't think we would actually be able to leave that place without someone falling did you??? And No it wasn't the two year old (she could actually maneuver the latter pretty darn well!), it was the six old! She was going down backward, with socks on, carrying her new DS... A recipe for disaster!!

And here is the goose egg to prove it:

We were just lucky she didn't break anything!!!

The renovations are just amazing! We are so grateful!

Christmas in the Shoug...

If you know my husband, than you know that he has nicknames for everything and everyone. Well the place my parents live is no exception. He fondly refers to it as "The Shoug". And that is where we headed after opening presents at our own house on Christmas Morning.

We had an amazing simple dinner and opened presents and laughed.

I love their new house and love being there with them more.

Here are a few of the pics from the rest of Christmas:

Hillary, Mom, and I


My Mom and Dad opening their presents. That is my Dad with Dradle salt and pepper shakers.
I love their genuine smiles in this picture.

Jake and Warren in the study playing chess:

Mom's Christmas village:

Grace came to me with her blanket over her head saying she was Mary. I thought it was precious.

Dad with the Ducati Fridge.

Mom with here new purse from Leland and new scarf from Santa.

Mom with all the grandkids there. They all got suckers at the end of the night....as if they hadn't had enough candy?!?!?

Merry Christmas

Just a quick Christmas morning post before heading up to my parents. The kids didn't get up until 7:30!!! (that was my best present) and Jake was so kind about handing out presents to the girls.

Here are a few of the highlights:

A note left with the plate of cookies. "Dear Santa I hope you get me a sail bote and a woden car from Jake." The red notes were left by Santa for the kids in the morning.

The before:

The after:

If you give a pig a party and matching stuffed animals:

Snuggies and DS games, does it get any better?

And blue for boys:

This was the first Christmas in a long time that Bri and I didn't spend an hour trying to assemble and undo toys from their tiny wires after the kids opened presents. Got to admit it is refreshing and more appropriately .... relaxing.

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Ho, Ho, Ho

Our Annual Santa picture!

We headed down to Woodburn today (kids on Christmas break) to have our yearly visit with Santa. The kids were so good and both brought their written Christmas lists tied in ribbon to give to Santa (DS's were on the top of both lists). We had to wait in line for about 15 minutes, but seeing Santa talking to all the other kids kept them entertained. Jake swore he saw Santa magically fix a broken candy cane. This helped his skepticism, as he has really been questioning this whole Santa thing. Grace kept saying, "Santa guess what..." She wasn't scared to talk to him, but wanted no part of sitting on his lap. So I assumed the usual position....

By the look of all these pictures, you may think that I really like to get my picture taken with Santa.....or if you know my kids, you would know that they are scared to death of strangers! So I am always present.

I found all of our past Santa pictures in a box of old Christmas cards (yes, I save all of them) and thought it would be cute to go through and post the past years

2009

2008

2006


2005

2004

2003
missing...

2002

(Mom, Jake, baby Avery, Cousin Warren, and my Dad)

My Dad wore a tie to get his picture taken with the kids. I thought it was really kind.

Merry Christmas to all!!

Christmas Celebration for the Cabin

Instead of a gift exchange this year, in honor of the newly redone cabin, we all brought 'gifts' for the cabin.

The beach cabin made out rather well!

It was the best kind of dinner get together, pizza and paper plates. No muss no fuss, just good family and laughter.....oh and crazy screaming kids (mine of course).

John and Patsy in front of their tree:


Scott, who did much of the work, and a great picture for the cabin that Patsy had printed.



This pic was strictly to show my sisters my new necklace:

Aunt Robin and Jake.

Aunt Trece (picture taken by Grace)

Stu and Robin leaving (they will be heading heading to Montana this Christmas)

A rare photo of the husband and I....so rare I went a head and posted two of them!

The girls in their jammies, before we were leaving. I'm such a sucker for polka dots!!

Me and the girls.

The whole family......Keep in mind that this is at ten at night right before we left. We all look spent!