New Year's Eve at the Space Needle!

Technically, we were there during New Year's Eve Day...but it was fun anyway. The Campbells invited us to go ice skating and ride the carousel with them at the Seattle Center. We, of course, got a much later start than anticipated, so before the fun began we had a picnic lunch in the Center House (and watched som hip-hop performers).

The Starbucks Ice Rink was MUCH smaller than we imagined. But Laurel, Malcolm and Aubrey, along with Aunt Sheila and Preston, laced up their skates and hit the ice. I tried to convince Dana to try it, but she would NOT put the skates on her feet. The kids had a great time. Once they found their footing, they didn't want to quit!

Aunt Sheila took Aubrey around the rink for a few spins, but Aubrey wanted to skate alone. Laurel was very diligent and found a walker to help Aubrey...who insisted on skating against traffic. Not sure why, but she seemed to like it better that way.

When Preston and Aunt Sheila came off the ice, Dana joined them and Uncle Andy on the carousel for a few rides. It was small and cute and a very short ride ~ much to Dana's dismay. note: Aunt Sheila chose the "CAUTION" horse for Dana!

When I couldn't get the other kids off the ice, Dana went with the Campbells to run the lawn near Key Arena and look at the fountain. Her favorite place seemed to be the stairs, though.

Finally, Aubrey and Malcolm took their skates off and took a spin on the carousel. And then Laurel finished. And we took some pictures before heading home.

We had a great time and we're SO glad the Campbells invited us along for the fun!!

She can see clearly now

Aubrey started complaining that her eyes hurt her a few weeks before Christmas break. I didn't think it was a real complaint, because she usually let go with it at bedtime or first thing in the morning (when she didn't want to get up). I finally emailed her teachers and asked if she'd told them the same thing; she hadn't told them that her eyes hurt, but that her friends were blurry and she couldn't see them.

I finally decided to taker her in for an eye exam (after the doctor's office confirmed that she had a vision problem with a quick in-the-hall seemingly untrained exam). The initial exam showed she was nearsighted, but after the doctor dilated her eyes, it was determined that she's actually farsighted (hence, the blurry friends).

She loved trying on the frames at WalMart and fell in love with these beauties.

We then went to Costco to price their glasses and check out their frames. It took us longer than it should have to decide where to buy the glasses, but we finally chose Costco...they had a very limited selection of children's frames but the price was unbeatable ($59 titanium flex frames; $28 UV/no scratch/antiglare lenses). The 7-10 days that it took for them arrive seemed to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r ~ Aubrey asked us several times a day if it was time to go pick them up.

Finally, on Monday the guy at the optical department told me that if they didn't call us that afternoon, they would definitely be in on Tuesday. So while I was at work on this afternoon, Daddy took Aubrey to pick them up. Her favorite part about the glasses is that they came with a FREE case -- and it's not one of those cases that will snap your fingers when you close the case ~ it has a special button that slowly opens them!

Aubrey loves her glasses and has told both Becca and me over and over again, "You can take as many pictures of me as you want when I get my glasses!" She isn't shy about asking if you think she looks cute in them. And she sure does look cute!

After Christmas Party

Aunt Jonna and Uncle Alan host a "We survived Christmas" party and we love to get together with cousins. So we piled into the van and trailed Aunt Sheila, Aunt Lisa and Preston down to Auburn. We got to meet Krissy's fiance, and Lael's date.

There was a White Elephant Exchange...probably it's a good idea to explain to the kids ahead of time exactly what that means. Poor Aubrey kept opening a gift and crying, "But I don't LIKE this...I don't WANT it." Part of me was disappointed in her apparent "greed" but I had to think back to being 6.

Next time we see everyone, there will be another May-baby (actually, a Smith baby) as Rachel is about to have #4. Good luck, Rachel. We can't wait to meet him ~ and we hope he looks like his dad!!

Merry Christmas!

This has been a great Christmas season for the northwest...the snow really set the tone and there is excitement in the air.



The kids got into their stockings as soon as they woke up (sometime close to 7am according to Malcolm) and finally came to get me up at 7:30. They couldn't wait to show me the fun things Santa had left for them. Laurel got a desk (it's the only thing she really asked for) and lots of cute desk accessories (now she needs a room re-do to accomodate it); Malcolm got Bakkugan; Aubrey got a pink MP3 player; Dana got a baby doll with all the accessories. Doug's stocking was loaded with pistachios and cany; mine had a few treats and a much desired deep-dish pie plate (for chicken pot pie). I can't believe that I didn't take any pictures of the stockings this year!!


Once the kids settled down a bit and their tummies started growling, we switched gears and had breakfast. Daddy got home just as we were sitting down to pancakes and bacon.


And then we headed to the living room to open presents. Laurel was "Santa" this year and had a lot of fun choosing "just the right" present for everyone to open. They were very pleased with the gifts they received, and were very excited to watch their siblings open the presents they had selected for each other.

Their favorite surprise was a stuffed Ram for Doug (Fordham Rams) ~ they've beed hiding it for months! Unfortunately, a full month of working (with just 3 days off so far) finally caught up to our Super Herio and he slept through much of the excitement.

I love watching their faces...they crack me up! Dana couldn't open gifts fast enough ~ which was funny to me because I'd expected (and was prepared for) her to open a gift and then want to play with it. But for her it was all about tearing into the wrapping paper. Here are some of my favorite reactions...

washable markers to go with her new art easel

a Leapster with the much-desired Pet Pals game

a remote-controlled Army helicopter that really flies!

a mini-American Girl Doll (Samantha) with a full collection of stories

And the snow? It just keeps coming.

Christmas Eve

We went to the Campbells for what has become our "traditional" Chinese food Christmas Eve. This year instead of making the egg rolls and spring rolls, we decided to buy them...that was a mistake we won't make again. But the crab wontons and fried rice and beef 'n brocoli were great!

Aunt Lisa modeled her Christmas jammies for us...and we all thought they looked VERY comfie!

After watching National Treasure, we headed home to get into our jammies and made our run to Slurpee-11. This is truly the highlight of our Christmas Eve (what kid wouldn't be excited about 32 ounces of pure sugar and articifical coloring and flavoring?). It's funny to watch the looks on customers' faces when we all walk through the door!

And now the kids are tucked in...Daddy is headed to work...Mommy is finishing the laundry...and Santa is headed our way. Merry Christmas!

so we went sledding again...

...what else was there to do? With many roadways less-than-manageable, and with the snow still coming, I decided not to go in to work today. Poor Dana has a nasty cough, and Aunt Lisa (who doesn't have snowboots) was kind enough to entertain her at the house while the Campbells, Aubrey, Laurel and Malcolm and I had some more fun. Here are some highlights.

You've heard of a mouser?

Well we have a "rat-er!"

Shortly after Aunt Lisa got here this afternoon, she said, "Hey -- what's that?" and pointed to the sliding glass door. It was a (icky-ooh!) a r-a-t. Doug watched him go behind the recycling can, and sent Henry out after him. And he CAUGHT HIM! And the rat lost a very quick battle-to-the-death.

This is a picture of Henry shortly after the carnage. He was so excited, and we are all (still) so PROUD of him! He's always been a chaser...I wondered what he'd so if he actually caught something. Now we know.

And this is a picture of the deceased. May be rest in peace...or something like that.

(meanwhile, the snow keeps coming! Daddy took a turn down the wrong hill today in Seattle and it took him about 45 minutes to get his crew car chained up and then find someone willing to let him borrow a shovel. He was heading down to the ferries to bring Aunt Lisa here for much of Christmas break.)

a snowy Sunday

Due to the extreme weather conditions we've been having (OK -- maybe not "extreme" but definitely unusual), the only Church meeting we had was Sacrament Meeting today. I was excited because I really enjoy the Christmas programs each year. The choir started singing, and Dana decided that she needed to use the potty...and we made it back into the chapel in time to hear the choir sing their final song. Sometimes things just don't go the way they're supposed to. Looking at the snow, and remembering why this time of the year is so important helped put the morning into perspective, though.

I made Cafe Rio for dinner and invited the Kidds over to join us. Jason had already started making his stack-ups, so he stayed home with Audrey and Aubrey and ate their; Becca, Davie and Ethan came over to our place. After dinner was over, the kids (Malcolm & Ethan, Aubrey & Audrey) treated us to a special show. They had been "training" Henry all day to do special tricks, so I guess it was kind of like a circus. They were silly and we had to chuckle at them and all their efforts.

it's still snowy...

It snowed again, and Friday's school was cancelled by about 5pm on Thursday evening. We spent the day playing in the snow with friends, drinking hot chocolate, visiting with friends, and drinking more hot chocolate. I thought I'd bought a winter's supply a few weeks ago, but I should probably buy some more...


As we hoped, the Stuards came back to sled with us. Ethan and his cousin Tommy came to the hill, too. Poor Dana had a bad first run on the hill, and was too cold to go for long. And Julia and Natalie were ready for some warmth, so Mindy and I brought them back for hot chocolate. The others joined us in short order ~ for a bit.



Then Aunt Sheila and Preston came over, and the Adams came, too. Just as Daddy was finally getting home from work for the weekend! You can only imagine the excitement!! Here are some of my favorite sledding pictures from today. Hope you have as much fun looking at them as the "kids" did sledding...

this was taken just seconds before poor Dana took a nasty face-plant in the icey snow. She loved sledding, but was worried she'd face-plant again, so after this she only wanted to go down with grown-ups.