Christmas Time's a Comin'!

L asked Santa for a new Rudolph that sings (last year's has a dead battery and no way to change it) and a soft-bottom Sleeping Beauty doll. Her words...really!

Thankfulness

We were lucky enough to celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year...one meal with each of our families. We spent Thanksgiving Day with Christopher's family. Aunt Chris and Uncle Ken joined us from California. What a great evening we had!

Chris, me, Uncle Ken, Aunt Chris, Leila, Mike, GP, GG and Shawn:

The weekend before Thanksgiving was spent with my side of the family in Portland. This time, we were lucky to have my California cousin, Elisabeth, join us for!

Me, Mom and my little brother, Jon.

Ok, not the best pic of me, but it had to be included since we spent so much time playing Beatles Rock Band. Love Chris and Jonny's pose here!
Really, you're gonna eat that dark meat!?!!? My cousin and brother are crazy!
Jonny carving up the bird!
The next morning...

A Lebanon Visit

Several weeks ago, Leila, my Mom and I traveled down to Lebanon, OR to visit my Dad and the family. My Dad lives on a ranch, so he is always sharing animals with Leila. This visit, he smuggled a week-old puppy into my great Aunt Doris's nursing home room in his pocket! Leila had never held anything so small, yet alive.

Grampa Larry and L.

This is my favorite!

Random, but Adorable!

I found this picture of Leila in our iphoto library. Somehow I never posted it!! This was taken at my Mom's house in May. The sweater used to be mine and was knitted by my lovely, great Aunt Doris.

Frozen Fun!

Wednesday brought more fun times in the snow...and more snowballs being thrown at me!

We got the sled out and racked our brains to think of a hill in our neighborhood that was within walking distance and not an actual road. Couldn't think of one...
...until we went out front. We have the slightest bit of an incline in our front yard. It was just PERFECT for L!

I tried to capture another family photo, but I didn't quite make it from the front porch before the timer went off. Notice me JUST about there...
After getting LOTS of exercise running back an forth to set the camera's timer, this is the best we ended up with.

Snow Day

We got to enjoy the snow together today, as school was canceled for Chris and me. We went out last night briefly, but it was dark, so couldn't do much. Today was nice, sunny and bright, but it wasn't any warmer! When the wind blew, it took my breath away! Throughout the day we watched Christmas movies (yes, Chris even watched them too...BEFORE Thanksgiving!), played in the snow, baked cookies, listened to Christmas music (yes, Chris even sang along...BEFORE Thanksgiving!) and enjoyed the fire in the hearth in whole day. So fun!

This was our snowman...maybe snowMOUND would be a better name. Either the snow at our house was not as good for snowman building or we have no skills! I have seen great snowmen on Facebook today that friends have made, but try as we might, we could never get a decent snowball to start with. Oh well, Leila didn't care. It was so cold, she probably would not have lasted a huge snowman undertaking.

Both of these people are tired of pictures already. One of them has learned to grin and bear it. The other, not so much.

Adding some hair.

Snow angels.



Throwing snowballs at Mommy...oh, so fun for two-thirds of the party.

She got me!
Family photo...take #1. Is Leila a lion?
After 5 or 6 more, we got a keeper! A bit cheesy, but I will take it.
No, Leila is not crying because we are headed inside. She is crying because her father just clocked her in the face (smack, dab center) with a snowball!!!!! Honestly, he was aiming at me, but it all happened in slow motion: Leila looked up and SPLAT! Chris felt terrible!
After warming up, Leila and I baked some sugar cookies!
What to do with tomorrow's day off??

The First Snowfall of the Winter...Um, Fall

We couldn't resist going outside last night to play for a bit in the falling snow! These pics were taken just as the snow started to pick up...only 30 minutes later we had quite the snowdrifts in the yard.


Can't wait to head outside this morning and enjoy the beautiful snow!

Disney On Ice

We experienced Disney On Ice for the first time ever today! Leila's best friend, Bergen, and her family invited us to go with them. Bergen's Dad is a teacher and one of his former students was in the show (she was Mulan and several other characters). Not only did we get to enjoy the show, sit with friends, see all our favorite Disney characters, and sing along to the music, but we also got to go back stage after the show (thanks to the Carlson Family's connections with Mulan). Bergen and Leila got to meet and greet their favorite princess!

Cinderellas and Belles

Li Shang, Mulan, Leila, Cinderella, Belle, Bergen, Tiana and Naveen:
The show started at 11:30 and we got home about 3:30, which is right when Leila would have been waking up from a nap. After a day full of fun, sugary cotton candy, McDonald's for late lunch and NO nap, the evening at home was...well, let's just say challenging. Luckily, Chris suggested building a little fort in her room and they ended the evening reading books at their camp-out. It is 7:45 now and she is in bed...early.
What a fun event! It's hard to say who enjoyed it more, me or Leila!!

A Princess Halloween

I think it is safe to say that any parent of a little girl knows the magic of the Disney Princesses! Our house is no exception. Leila loves everything princess...especially Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. On Halloween Sunday this year, A Simple Wish (a princess shop in Puyallup) held an open house. It featured story time with Snow White, but since it was a holiday, all of the princesses made an appearance. It was completely free and so much fun! We got there right at noon in hopes of beating the crowds of people. It was full, but comfortable. We had a great time!

Chris had it on good authority that Sleeping Beauty would be there so Leila wanted to dress up just like her. (We don't tell Leila this, but Sleeping Beauty is actually one of Chris's drama students. Leila has played with her, out of costume, on stage at school and yet she doesn't realize that it is her.Ha!)

Snow White and L.
Sleeping Beauty made Leila a masquerade mask for Halloween. What a nice surprise.


There was a dance time too. What a picture for memory!


Jasmine's outfit was gorgeous!


Sleeping Beauty read the girls a story too. Leila started out with the crowd...

But then decided that she would rather read her own story. She reads with the book turned out all the time! Is she a product of two teachers or what?