Santa Visit

 This year Leila asked Santa for a Barbie house and some Legos. There's a decent chance those wishes will be under the tree! 

Nutcracker

 The girls had quite an afternoon on the first Saturday of December! Leila, Grammy, Gramma and I went to The Nutcracker in Seattle. It was COLD day, but clear, so walking around the Seattle Center before and after the show was just perfect! We had tickets to the matinee performance. I grew up seeing The Nutcracker every Christmas (from the age of 4 to my freshman year of college). This was Leila's first Nutcracker experience and she loved it! Next year we are planning on seeing Portland's production (it really is amazing, and truthfully, I like it 82 times better than Seattle's). What a wonderful day full of memories to last forever. I loved watching Leila's face when the music started and the show began. Magical! 

At intermission, we had tickets for a special treat. There were cupcakes, a cupcake sprinkle bar, appetizers, and sparkling cider. We also had the opportunity to play with some props and take some photos in front of a snowy scene. 

After the show we walked up to the Center House so Leila could take a turn driving the miniature train. 

It is safe to say that Leila loved it! As soon as we got home, she changed into her ballet shoes and danced the show several times over. You can't ask for a better thank you! 

Christmas Tree Shopping...and MORE

On Black Friday, instead of joining the crazies, the Taverns headed to the tree farm. We walked in the gates right at opening and were the first folks to purchase a tree from good 'ole Jo-El Tree Farm. The owner hadn't even plugged in the cash register for the season yet! We had an agenda though and the first step of the plan was to get a tree early! 

 The driving force behind the early outing for our tree was the fact that we were heading to Honda, as soon as we dropped our tree off, to BUY A NEW CAR!! It is very fitting that my CRV's last duty would be to bring the Christmas tree home given how much I love the Christmas season!

As excited as I was to buy a new car, I have LOVED my CRV. I have a strong emotional tie to my car...Chris totally, 100 percent surprised me in 2004 when I graduated with my masters degree by buying this car for me. He had it parked in PLU's parking lot and after graduation, I walked out to find the car that we had been dreaming about and then was handed the keys. It had been such a fabulous family car that we knew we wanted a new CRV when the time came to finally purchase a new vehicle. Well, that time came on Black Friday. 

 Here's our NEW CRV! It is dark brown - kona coffee - to be exact. It looks black in photos, but in real life you can see the brown. We LOVE it! 

Our tree got decorated that night too! Leila was a huge help this year and really enjoyed unwrapping all the ornaments. 

SCT and UW

 The Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, we had tickets to Seattle Children's Theatre's James and the Giant Peach. Once again, we were pleased with our Sunday morning at the theatre! We spent some time before and after the show walking around Seattle Center enjoying the Christmas decorations. 

These giant flowers outside the Science Center are pretty cool. They are motion sensor activated and when you walk near them they start singing. 

After the show, we met up with Rutvi, one of Chris's former students. She is a freshman at UW. We had lunch together at the Armory and then we drove her back to school. She showed us all around the campus and her dorm room too. It was a beautiful day to walk around the campus...gorgeous! PLU has some competition now...Leila thinks she might want to go to UW some day instead of PLU. I am sure it is because Rutvi told her there is a dinosaur class offered at UW. That sold her!

T-Birds Hockey

 We took in our first Thunderbirds hockey game of this season in the end of November. We had quite the group this time around - Wes, Erin and the kids, Erin's parents and Chris's parents. The game went into overtime and the T-Birds won!! We haven't witnessed a win in a while so that was exciting! 

Library Card of Her Own!

Leila has her own library card now! We go to the library a lot and I felt like she was ready to have her own card. She was excited!! She got to choose the picture on the front of the card (wasn't like that when I got mine!). She chose the card with flowers. 

School Skate Night

 Leila's school sponsored a Skate Night back in October and try as might we could not get her interested in giving it a try. Well, when it rolled around to the 2nd Skate Night and she had heard classmates talking about it, she was all for giving it a go. She was pretty hesitant at first, but after we got her a "walker" she LOVED it! 

Little Singer

 Leila is becoming quite the little singer and it warms my heart! Chris has another lady in the family that he must accompany on the piano now. One weekend I snapped these pictures of them belting out tunes from Shrek: The Musical. 

Reading Night

 In early November, Leila's school hosted a Reading Night. We had a great time! Each classroom offered a different literacy activity. Leila's favorites of the evening were the Book Walk (where she won a book!), creating a book mark (pictured below) and Sight Word Bingo. Oh, and how could I forget, Clifford was there too! Leila was SO EXCITED that he came as she had just finished telling us that he came to library that day at school. We are looking forward to the next school sponsored family night! 

Bradley Lake Photo Session

 In November, I was scouting out some new photography locations and decided to try Bradley Lake Park. I talked Leila into letting me snap a whole bunch of pictures of her. I couldn't be more pleased with the photos! The colors that late afternoon were beautiful and, of course, I have the prettiest girl around...so how could they not be cute?

I don't know how noticeable it is to others, but I can totally see Leila's blue teeth in these last two pictures. It is evidence that a blue raspberry sucker was used for bribery to get "just a few more pics"!