Christmas Party #2

This was actually Christmas Party #2 and 3. We started the day at my dad's and had a great brunch. It was very low key, the kids got to play and we relaxed. Then we traveled to my uncle Mac's and had the traditional Campbell Christmas. Emma had fun playing with Carly and Abi whom she doesn't get to see very often and we ate lots of great food.

Owen had a really hard time waiting for the green light to open presents. He got a little spoiled and cranky towards the end of Christmas and still asks me to take pictures with my camera on my phone to send to Santa!

We get at least 15 minutes of quiet time with this! Thanks Papa and Nana! It's more like a present for Mom and Dad!

Emma also got a lot of great kids and played with just about everything that night at home and the next day!

Can we eat it?

We spent part of the morning decorating this fabulous gingerbread house. I debated whether or not to buy two totally separate houses to avoid the fighting but thankfully there was pretty much equal amounts. I gave each kid a piece of the roof and a person to decorate. They used most of the candy on the roof so the rest of the house is a little bare but overall, not a shabby house! Owen was a little sad in the picture as he had just hit his knee after running around the house. What do you know? We learned a lesson about running in the house AND built a gingerbread house all in one day!

Promise, not staged and they aren't fighting. I will treasure this picture for a long time!

Of course...Emma had to taste the goodies...maybe that's why the house is so bare???

Christmas Party #1

We celebrated with the very large Lawler clan at the University Place City Hall. Yep, our family is so big we have to rent a hall. It worked out rather perfect. There was an area for the kids to run around in and not get hurt or knock over the food, a long table to set the food up, tables for everyone to sit at, and lots of room to walk around and visit with family we haven't seen in a while. It was a lovely night. My cousin Jenny made this fabulous cape for Owen which I am sure will become a dress up favorite and the kids got a lot of wonderful presents from the family. One down and three to go!

It was so hot and Owen was running around so much that we took off his shirt. Merry Christmas! The sweat in his armpits collected little pieces of the black sweater and it looked like he had armpit hair, very funny!!

My cousin Rachel has a cast on her foot and uses this lovely contraption to get around...that is, until the kids found it!

Santa Train at Mineral

Today we took a train ride to visit Santa. It was a present from Mom and Dad Wren last year but we had all that snow and had to reschedule it for this year. The kids have never been on a big train before and were very excited. We left a little early and arrived about 45 minutes before boarding and the train was a little delayed. So, waiting for the train in the cold the kids threw rocks and used a stick to try and break ice that had formed over puddles. It was like 18 degrees and we were very cold.

The ride was a little slow so the kids, and I include Scott in that term, made faces and played silly games.

One great surprise for me was that both the kids sat on Santa's lap and I think decided that he isn't all the bad. Owen asked for cars and magically Santa had some cars to give him, Emma asked for Webkinz clothes but I don't think Santa knew what that meant because he gave her a card trick game instead. Oh well, maybe next year he'll get it right!

Tree Hunting

Every year we go to the Snowshoe Tree Farm in Orting for our tree huntin' experience. This year we went on a cold and blustery day, hunted down the perfect tree (although it was hard to find as they had slim pickings), and Daddy cut it down. Owen complained the entire time about the cold, Emma ran off and hide causing lots of worry for me, and Scott's shoulder hurt when cutting down the tree. It was a tremendous experience!

Windy Fun!

We had the great opportunity to head to Ocean Shores this weekend and spent some time with Grammie and Grandpa at a timeshare they were staying in. It was VERY windy and rainy and at one point it was so windy that the wind we like little bullets on our skin and it HURT! We say a bald eagle take a duck for dinner, played a little on the beach, swam in the pool (although we forgot our towels. I shared Emma's and Scott had to share Owen little hulk towel=)), played games and ate great food. It was a fun relaxing weekend and even though we didn't sleep well, it was fun to get away!

Here are some pics!

It was windy...

This was a puddle we happened across, how cool!

Halloween Fun!!

As usual we had our Halloween party for the kids at daycare and a few we spend a lot of time with at the Centre. All-in-all, we had around 13 kids and roughly that number of parents. We had a lot of princess, a tide box, a diva, some ninja turtles, and much more. As always, it was a blast and the kids got a lot of candy and worn out.

I am not sure why but this year I decided to make Emma's costume and for some delusional reason I thought Ariel would be cake. I mean...it's like following a recipe right? Okay, so it's not even close but with the help of my mother and about 16 hours of work we pulled it off. She loved it and wore it 4 days in a row. Needless to say, it is rather worn but she really enjoyed it and I got a new sewing machine out of it. Bonus for us all!!

Scott working his magic. He went simple this year so as to save his back (and some time).