sickies

It's a case of the sickies at our casa today. Elliot has actually had a fever the past 4 nights, but really only at night and a few times around nap. Gabby got it today, fever and body aches. She even fell asleep on me for a little nap. I have a yucky feeling tummy ache and Clay is battling yet another cough and congestion thing. We must get better, next week we party like 4 year olds!

holiday in pictures

sun porch talks

laundry basket shenanigans

Grandpa afternoons

beautiful black eye

cousins

Deception Pass

Joe!

Dress up

preparing for Christmas Eve, matching drinks and yellow towels.

Uncle D's new hat, and E's new jammies.

Poppy the unicorn pillow pet!

acting 15, on the phone planning dates (ice cream with Grandma)

felt food at the new museum

cowpoke cousins

matching pajamas at the cabin

disguise glasses

fierce chicks

felt fish fishing, at the museum

exploring the beach, cold temps and all

throwing rocks, Whidbey Island

the good life.

home

after some of this:oh how these kids love to run on moving sidewalks (this one in Chicago, O'hare). It took us probably 45 minutes to get across the entire airport to our next gate (we had 3 hrs).

And even more of this:
one of the calmer moments of the flight (although both asleep on me was the best). We made it home last night! Our plane landed just after 8pm, both kids ran (and Elliot did his trip and fall 3 times) to Clayton who was awaiting us. We got our luggage and made it home after 9 where it was straight to the showers to get the funk and germs that come with flying off of us. A quick dinner, followed by opening a present that Santa left by the fireplace and the kids were sent to bed. I woke up at 8am, got up had a glass of water and heard E a half hour later, we both fell back asleep for over an hour. Gabby finally made it up a few minutes after 10am. Whew, now we are unpacking and playing and half way getting ready for the day. More pics and posts to follow.

again?

Seriously, this is not what I was expecting to see today- nor am I all that excited about it! SNOW, it started about 7:30am and 3 hours later we have a good bit on the grass and the cars. Perfect packing snow, meaning the kids chucked snowballs at Geo Gramps when were saying hi to him and the dog. How unexpected was the snow, well BOTH of Elliot's winter jackets are currently in the dryer after being washed last night. that means he wore two thin jackets over his long sleeves. Also, the boy's snow pants were no where to be found when I shopped so my dear sis has them waiting in WA for us. Off to finish packing and maybe bake something to keep us busy (like there aren't a million other things I should be doing!).

Snow

new tradition? after decorating the tiny fake tree, eat chocolate chip mint ice cream.


bulls eye, she got me with this throw of a snowball.
morning of the first snow, you must eat some.

these two refuse to both smile at the same time lately.

Saturday evening I went to the store, instantly when I went outside it just felt like it was going to snow. 9pm, I look out the window and sure enough, it was SNOWING! Clayton did not believe me and had to see it for himself. I was very tempted to wake the kids up, but they had been so grumpy and were sleeping so good we didn't. Elliot woke up first Sunday morning, I opened the curtain and showed him outside, he mumbled "whatdat?" He was very excited about it, and went out in just his jammies for his first real touch of the fluffy cold white stuff! Once Gabby woke up we were right away all in our jammies, boots and jackets- headed outside. There really was barely any snow, more on the deck than the grass but it was still fun and special. We threw a few snowballs, stomped in it, touched it, got cold and came inside. The kids each had a mini bowl full of fluffy snow and hot chocolate for their pre-breakfast snack. It was all gone before 11am, so it was on to normal life. I got to go hang out with some of my mommy friends, have tea and do a cookie exchange.

Project Blog, Breakfast

What do you have for breakfast? I get into ruts, and getting out of them can take more thought than necessary. I love different breakfasts than most of the family- well than Clayton. I love runny eggs, he only likes them scrambled well done. boring. The kids will eat the same over and over again, and then one day they just don't want anything. So, lately I have a few go to things that I whip up for breakfast.

1. Roll ups. I am the Queen of roll ups, I make them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A breakfast roll up for us is a tortilla (Costco has a great deal on whole wheat ones, they have like 7grams of fiber, I microwave one or two for 30 seconds to get it pliable) I cut up a piece or two of lunch meat (turkey or ham) put it in a pan and then crack an egg or two and scramble the egg and meat together. Put it in a tortilla (sometimes with a sprinkle of cheese too) and roll it up. My TRICK: use aluminum foil on the bottom half of the roll up to keep it together. The kids love these, some days. I do them all the time for lunch with spinach, quinoa, lunch meat, leftover grilled chicken, tzatziki sauce, artichoke hearts, and lately cream cheese and ham for the kids and cut into slices so they have bite size pinwheels.

2. Oatmeal. the kids eat this almost daily, and it seems to keep them full the longest.

3. Pancakes. There is a reason I am not the normal pancake cook in the family, I make them lumpy and don't follow a recipe. However, even with the lumps they have been pretty good. I make enough so I have some in the fridge that the kids can munch on later. Add flax seed and pumpkin puree a dash of cinnamon and they a little healthy, plus they don't need syrup so they are not as messy.

Right now our thing is oatmeal, but I am wanting eggs tomorrow.

wish list

I'm going to try to do this again... here goes. IF I could have 3 presents this year, not including such things as world peace and no one going hungry, I would wish for:

1. A treadmill. Maybe that would get me back into running, consistently and daily without issues of weather, daylight, pushing a stroller.

2. A new wardrobe, starting with the basics of undergarments!

3. A vacation with just the hubby and I. We have never spent a night away from the kids, well I haven't (excluding the nights I was in the hospital having Elliot and Clayton was home with Gabby). Elliot is not a good sleeper, and he would make it more than rough for whoever was watching him. Gabby is mostly easy, but even when Clay puts her to sleep I have to go in and say our prayers- otherwise she wakes me up in the middle of the night for them.

Now, if I could just get my Christmas shopping in order, it is more a mind game right now for me. I am struggling with do I buy here and now, ship it or pack in our suitcases or wait and do it all last minute? Happy Holidays!