It's Snowing!

Snow is always exciting, even if it's only a tiny bit!

Christmas Baking

The kids and I always make treat boxes for their teachers and coaches, and honestly I do most of the word, but the kids always get in on some of the action.  :)

The kids' tray of meringue kisses started out so nice and neat!

 And then they got creative....

Willow's Class Christmas Party

I got to be a part of Willow's class Christmas party!

After her party was over, I went and picked up some lunch for Jayden and Willow and I, then came back to the school to grab Willow from class and eat lunch in the hallway with Jayden.  He showed us his red tail hawk statue he made!

Willie's Birthday

Another one of my brother's birthdays....we still celebrate them here.  Some years we make him a cake.  Some years we just talk about him.  I usually try to make dinner with food that Willie loved.  If we make waffles, we fill every little square with butter, just like Willie did.  If we make quesadillas and nachos, I tell the kids stories about how Willie made nachos and when we asked for a bite, he'd hand us one toasty chip that didn't have any cheese or anything on it - Jayden and Willow always crack up at that one.   Sometimes I tell them stories about how Willie would get caught eating butter out of the container out of the fridge.  And how Kaylee and I would torture Willie and pretend he was invisible.  And how Willie taught me how to wake surf.  And how Willie when he learned to snow ski didn't think turning was necessary and went straight down the mountain and then crashed when he needed to stop - the kids love that one too.  And how sometimes Willie would come up behind me and squeeze my head with his hands and try to pick me up that way.   But for the most part we just talk about what we miss about not having an Uncle Willie in our lives and how we think he would be a part of our lives if he was here.  

I didn't put Willie's birthday up on our weekly calendar, sometimes I don't want to look at a reminder, but Jayden thought it was necessary, so he added it on.

"Willis Brithday"  I LOVED it.  It cracked me up all day.  Willis.  I'm pretty sure it would of made Willie laugh too.  Happy 34th Brithday Brother Willis.

Playing Games with Willow

Willow loves playing games.  And who wouldn't when they win All. The. Time!  I still play, even if I lose, I figure it's good practice showing her how to be a gracious loser.  A Loser.  All. The. Time.  Turns out Candyland, Uno, Old Maid, Go Fish, and Memory just aren't that fun to play when you lose all the time.

Also, a girl in Willow's class just got glasses, and also one of Willow's besties, Briley, also got glasses.  Willow keeps asking when she is going to get her pair of glasses.  She wears these in the mean time, explaining that they help her see the cards better.

Snickering as she knows she is winning.

Thanksgiving 2014

Even after all these years here, Thanksgiving is the holiday I really struggle to make it what I envision.  I always grew up with Thanksgiving being a constant chaos of lots of loud people and lots of food and Chex Mix that was devoured for breakfast which resulted in all of us begging mom to make another batch for the rest of the day - because obviously she didn't have enough other food to cook anyway....

Thanksgiving is so quiet here, especially now that our friends, the Marten's family, has moved away.  They were just like us, with no family near by, and we've managed to spend the last 4 Thanksgivings together, and they add a lot of fun and help make the holiday different from every other day.

My mom was here this year and we tried really hard to make the day special.  Jayden was still feeling a little under the weather, but we had puzzles and games and Christmas art projects and lots of food!

Started the Christmas puzzle

At the game table we played lots of Tenzi (a new game this year, but super fun!), Uno, and Ticket to Ride.

Games are exhausting, time for a movie break.

And I torture Sam with Chex Mis...

Lunch snacks before dinner

Thanksgiving with Willow's Class

We got to have a little Thanksgiving party with Willow's class!

They build turkeys out of Oreo's and candy corns.

And wrote thanksgiving notes to their teacher and make a turkey out of their hand..

Happy Thanksgiving!