Christmas Day

Ahhhhhh Christmas morning!

Grandma Sherry hand knitted outfits for the girls dolls, even tights! We missed you this Christmas Grandma and Grandpa!

For some reason, this Strawberry Shortcake doll was Katelyn's obsession, she simply had to have it. I think she's played with it twice since Christmas...

What a gorgeous day it was on Christmas Day! So fun to get outside and enjoy it! Megang got a new scooter, so we took it out for a spin.

It was a small Corrigan gathering for dinner. Brian brought a friend he knew through living in Dallas, so we had one extra (he's taking the picture!)

I borrowed Katelyn's snuggie for gift giving!

family photos~

The best Nana and Poppy~

Christmas Eve

We headed over to my sister's home on Christmas Eve after we attended our church service. The kids were up to their normal behavior in no time!!

My two little precious gifts from God...besides sending His son Jesus, these two will always be my favorite gifts from above....

Meeting the Big Guy at Macy's

What started out as a family tradition, somehow slipped to the wayside about 5 years ago...whoops! Well, no better time than the present to enjoy the festivities!

I don't know what's up with blogger, but I can't figure out how to post these pictures in order and it won't let me move them around, soooo please enjoy them in whatever order they appear...thank you!! The girls wrote their letter to Santa..

Santa didn't look any different than I remember him 5 years ago!! Wow!

Waiting until December 23rd to head to DT means waiting in a line for almost an hour, what a patient daddy!

Sad that my kids missed out on this tradition! Megan was not quite 3 the last year they actually ran the little cars around the track.

What a fun little playland!

I reallyhope it isn't 5 more years before we visit again!

More December Fun!

We soooo enjoyed a nice visit with Uncle Brian who flew in from Dallas for a couple weeks in December.
Katelyn's preschool Christmas program with her friend Kate(they are known at school as the Kates)

Brian and I at a Blazer game. Why are we wearing Husky gear you ask? Well, three Husky alum suited up that night, so we wanted to give a shout out to UW!

Megan's classroom Christmas party. We made candy trains!

The teachers are sooo smart...they included a stick of gum in the kids' supplies so the kids would chew gum while they made their trains...love those teachers!

Later that night, I got to go to Amy's annual ornament exchange. We started a tradition, probably over 10 years ago to get our picture taken...lookin good ladies!

At Katelyn's class party, they made snowmen out of tube socks...cute!

Katelyn's class memorized Psalm 23, loved hearing them recite it!

Early December activites

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can....catch up

Here's Damon and I at our favorite Christmas party!!!

The hostest with the mostest, thanks Lisa and Michael for all the work you do to make a fun evening for your friends!

The tradition continues

Adventure Dental always throws a really fun party for the kiddos!

Our home group "grown ups only" dinner

I'm racking my brain to remember the name of this church that hosted this Bethlehem Village celebration. It was such a great evening, we unfortunately had to rush through, but next year for sure we will get there early and take our time to enjoy all the wonderful activities. The church was on Mill Plain up in the heights near Devine.

Our blessed little Christmas tree...what a great beginning to a fun Christmas season! It was Katelyn's turn to put the star on the tree...great job Kate!

If You Ever Wondered....

If you ever wondered what it would be like to do a photo sitting at JCPenny with all the grandchildren, you are in luck. I just happened to hit record on my camera when the chaos was in full swing. You might think this is funny, you might think this is sad, either way, it's a snapshot into what it would be like to photograph 10 children ages:
5 mo,
11 mo
2 1/2
4
4 1/2
5
7 1/2
10
11
12

Most of the footage is of my niece, little M, who is going through a stage of being scared of the photo studio. We offered everything from candy to trips to disneyland (that one was my idea and I got major stink eye from my brother). With out further delay....

After all that, I'm pleasantly surprised that the picture turned out as good as it did! The young little potographer did a great job. After MANY unpleasant experiences at JCP, I'm happy to report, this one went fairly smoothly considering all she had to work with!

Behold, the fruit of our labor...

If you look really closely, you can see a little piece of candy in the hands of sweet little M!

A November to Remember

We had a wild, crazy and FUN month of November.....

We had a fun playdate with friends before they moved far away :(

Katelyn's class went on a nature walk to collect nature items with all the different fall colors. It was a cold but pleasant day. All but one of the kids enjoyed themselves....hmmm, who's missing from this class picture?

That ONE child who wanted to go home! I have a growing collection of pictures very similar to this....still love ya Katelyn!

Jenny Cochell shared this fun idea for a fall activity: paint egg carton sections with fall colors, then take it with you on your walk and "collect" items of each color.

Hot chocolate wiped away the tears and we got a "sort of" pleasant look going...that was as good as it got folks!

We had a blast this evening on our family date night. We started off at Mcmenamins, then headed over to Big Al's to play games. We will have to do this again very soon!

All aboard for The Polar Express train ride....

Jammies were a must wear!

The big guy made an appearance and was well received!

Katelyn warmed up to Santa by the time we had to head home...

Great time with family and friends

CYT's production of High School Musical 2 combined with a birthday party...what could be better?

Katelyn's preschool class Thanksgiving feast

Then off to have lunch at Megan's school. We got to watch the principal get"silly stringed" by the 5th graders for making their goal collecting donations.

Thanksgiving at Nana and Poppy's

Pretty as a picture!

Festival of Trees at The Quay...we had lots of favorites!

Off to get our Christmas tree...I think I took this shot, but not sure...we are in the truck on the way.

We had extra helpers assist with picking the BEST tree ever!

Great Photo Katelyn!

And that's a wrap for the month of November....now only one and a half months behind....woohoo!