Christmas Day

Christmas morning we woke up to new snow on the ground and it came down heavy all morning. What a treat! (Although, the weather did change our original plans).

After opening presents together, just the 4 of us, and seeing what Santa brought (a new ball pit), we made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Around noon, instead of going to Brian's aunt & uncle's house in Oregon City area, we headed over to Nana & Grandpa's house for a celebration with about half the family.

It was a great day, and oh so beautiful to have a white Christmas. Now I'm ready for it to melt and everything to be back to normal!

The chocolate's kickin' in!

Christmas Eve

Since we had about 8 inches of snow on Christmas Eve, our usual plans got canceled, so we decided to have dinner with just my parents at our house. Brian had to go pick them up in the 4 wheel drive and bring them over, but it was great. We had a simple ham & scalloped potato dinner and exchanged presents with each other. Everyone did great with gifts this year, Blake & Avery made out like bandits. Here are a couple of the highlights of the night.

Stuck in the House, Day 3

There is even more snow today. I think we got about 2-3 inches this morning. We probably have a total of 8-10 inches on everything, with a thin layer of ice in the middle like an Oreo. We really wanted to get out of the house today, but we didn't drive anywhere. I was stuck working from home and so Brian took Avery with the neighbors and they went sledding on the golf course. Fun times were had by all! It's not supposed to snow or rain or anything tomorrow, so I'm going to have Brian take me to work in the truck. I really need to get out of here!

Christmas Activities

Over the past few weeks we have been doing the usual Christmas activities: cutting down our Christmas Tree, decorating our Christmas tree, baking cookies, building a ginger bread house, wrapping presents, watching Christmas movies, reading Christmas stories, driving around looking at Christmas lights, playing in the snow, and drinking plenty of hot cocoa!

One Monday morning I didn't have to work, so we took off straight from picking Avery up from preschool and headed to the tree farm. We found the perfect tree after about 8 minutes, so that was good because Blake hated being in the backpack. After that we got some hot cocoa and went to go pet the goats, pony & lamas.
That night after dinner, Avery & I decorated the tree with Brian & Blake supervising. We even listened to Avery's "Little People Christmas CD". She was super excited to be decorating and only a few ornaments were sacrificed.

A few days later, Brian picked up a ginger bread house at Target and Avery invited her neighbor friends over to help her build it. They all had fun, but the little ones just liked to eat the frosting & decorations!
About a week ago, we started getting some pretty cold weather. It even snowed a few flakes here & there. As the days of last week passed by, the snow flakes kept coming. School was closed Wednesday - Friday (so Avery's preschool didn't get to have their little program/party), and now, we are all but snowed in! I'm sure our truck could handle the snowy, ice covered roads, but why chance it? We don't really have to go anywhere, we just want to!
Avery & I made sugar cookies on Friday, yesterday we played in the snow and were invited to the neighbors for a nice, hot, French Onion Soup dinner, and today we made fudge and peppermint bark.
Now... if I can just get to work tomorrow?!?!?

Car Accident

I was riding in Shannon's car 2 Saturdays ago up in Kelso when we were in a little accident. An elderly lady was at a stop sign and pulled out right in front of us. We t-boned her right on her drivers side. Everyone was ok, just a little shook up. Shannon's car, on the other hand, no so ok. The lady was sighted at the scene but her insurance didn't want to make it her fault, so Shannon's insurance is going to fix her car, luckily. No one wants to be forced to buy a new car when your old one was perfectly fine before!

Thanksgiving

So I know this is a little late but I wanted to write about it before I forgot. Our Thanksgiving this year was a little bit different than usual. Usually we go with Brian's parents out to their best friends house in Beaverton in the morning/afternoon, have snacks, play pool and maybe even let the kids ride a horse or tractor, and then we head to my grandparents house for dinner. This year we still went to Beaverton, but then we had Thanksgiving dinner with my family at our house!
My mom is easing me into this new tradition so all I had to do was provide a clean house, and she & my grandma & aunts did all the cooking! It was a ton of fun having everyone here. We had 14 adults & 2 kids. After dinner everyone played pictionary (mostly the younger generation had to make the older generation play). It was a funny time and even Avery got into the game. Here is her drawing of a reindeer & a hot dog. (I'll let you guess which one is which)!

Brian's new baby

For the past few years, Brian has really been wanting a new truck. He's never owned a truck before, and did lots of research on them. This past summer, he decided that he wanted a Toyota Tundra. Well, after looking for 5 months, we finally found our perfect fit! Brian even cut some shelves out of the garage so we could park it inside.

Here she is in all her glory! Almost too pretty to drive anywhere.