Kicking off the holidays

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday and there are countless things I am grateful for...my loving husband, a kind-hearted son, a humorous daughter, the best extended family, dear friends, the freedoms we enjoy in this great country and those men & women who put their lives on the line everyday, and too many other things to list.

While I am very thankful, I am always ready to blow through Thanksgiving and get right to the day after because that marks the official start of "the holidays." Growing up, we ALWAYS drove to a Christmas tree farm the day after Thanksgiving to cut down our tree. Soon after, the tree and the decorations went up. Jeremy & I followed that tradition for a few years but now we've sold out and gone with the fake tree. However, we started our own family tradition of always going to the downtown Seattle Nordstrom the day after Thanksgiving to see Santa. The Macy's holiday parade is going on at the same time so it's fun to see it go by as we wait to see the big man.

For the 2nd year in a row, Santa has had to "go feed the reindeer" and then the kids sit in his chair only for him to sneak in behind for the photo. Poor little Maggie just gets super freaked out. My brother & I sat on Santa's lap into our 20's and my parents have every photo lining the hallway at Christmastime. My favorite picture is the one where Mark is about 2 and screaming. Unfortunately Maggie was so hysterical, she wouldn't even sit long enough to get a pic of her screaming on Santa's lap. Nevertheless, it's a fun tradition and definitely signals the start of the Christmas festivities.

So, if you're looking for me tomorrow, we'll be watching Christmas Vacation, putting up the tree and the decorations, and Jeremy will be out on the roof putting up the lights. Ragen seems to think that he's going to be up there helping. I just can't imagine where he got that idea...

August 2007 - Jeremy decided it'd be a good idea to put our 3 year old on the roof while he painted. I swear I didn't authorize this "fun."

Our President, Farack Obama

I've been getting a chuckle out of this little gem for the past week so I thought I'd share...a funny little election story.

Jeremy and I really haven't talked that much about the election or the candidates over the past few months. If we discussed it, it was always one of our date night conversations where we try really hard to talk about something other than the kids. So hard to do... Anyways, as we were watching the results roll in on election night, Ragen heard the word "Obama" and got super excited. He yelled "Hey that's Farack Obama and he's running for president. I want him to win." I quickly said oh you mean "Barack Obama" and he corrected me, "NO, F-F-F Farack Obama." Oh got it :) Obviously they had been talking about the election at preschool because the next comment he made was "He's against John McCain."

A few days later he heard the word "Obama" again and started talking about all the people in his class that voted for Farack Obama (him being one of them). Then he listed for me all the people in his class who voted for John McCain and how they were losers. Sorry McCain fans (Bumpa for sure!) he doesn't mean you're really a loser, just that you lost :)

Then tonight he saw my People magazine with Obama on the cover and once again excitedly said "There's Farack Obama again. He's our president now." Close enough. He followed that up with "He looks like Uncle Mark." Jeremy was hiding his laughter and asked why he thought that and Ragen's reply was "they both have dark hair."

I hope this is a perfect example of how the next generation is getting that much closer to being color blind since apparently Farack Obama and Uncle Mark were seperated at birth. :)

ROR!

Last week we were at Pediatric Associates (I know you moms know the place well!) for flu shots. Ragen decided to draw a lion on the chalkboard and it was a really good lion. Yesterday we had to go back for flu shots because Ragen was sick last week and couldn't get his. He went right back to his chalkboard and drew a full size lion. Complete with correct anatomy (notice the mane, whiskers, claws and tail?) and ROR (roar)! He was so proud of his drawing and it really makes me smile. He also got a pretty distinct haircut which he was also really proud of. Quite the day for my little man!

Halloween @ Gamma Phi

My college sorority has a great annual Halloween event where the alumni and their kids come back to trick-or-treat at each door within the house. This event is sort of a double-edged sword though. It's so fun to take the kids and I know they love it. I always think how fun it will be to see old college friends and catch up. However, everyone is chasing all these toddlers around so nobody gets to say much more than "Hi" and "Which kid(s) are yours?"

This was good practice for the real deal. Ragen figured out he basically had to yell "trick-or-treat" because the plastic mask covers his face. Maggie wouldn't say trick-or-treat but she said "thank you" (really more like "day doo") and picked up the concept quite quickly. Who wouldn't when you're raking in all that candy?! She was quite a hit being at the UW dressed up as a Husky cheerleader.

I remember this activity being sort of fun as a freshman and sort of a drag as a sophomore. But, now that I'm the one taking my kids back, I am so grateful to the girls for making such a special night for our kids.

Annual picture in front of the door

Annual picture at front door with Madison Tucker after annual dinner at Pallino

A handful of the kids who would stay still - Robbie Lentz, Callie Lentz, Maggie, Andy Graebner, Zach Fosseen, Annie Headrick, Jake Headrick, Sam Headrick, Max Giles, Cody Fosseen, JP Headrick, Ragen, Madison, Ellie Heldridge

Maggie is a huge trick-or-treating fan!

The 2 Husky cheerleaders - Maggie and Miller Fosseen

(who is just as sad about the football season as the rest of us!)

Spider web cookies

I stumbled upon this little Halloween treat on a blog awhile ago and have been so excited to try them when the time rolled around. Well, they didn't turn out as cute as the originals but going forward they'll get better.

Yesterday we got "Boo-ed" so today I had to put together some little treat plates for a couple of neighbors and I decided to use these spider web cookies. The originals called for black webs with orange spiders but I already had black spiders so I tried orange webs. I think black would have looked better. I also need to work on the timing of glazing the cookies & doing the spirals - that glaze dries so darned fast!

A yummy treat, no matter how they look!

Backyardigans

Earlier in the week I happened to see a sign at Nordstrom that the Backyardigans were making an appearance at the Bellevue Square Nordstrom on Friday. We'd decided to skip the show when it was at the Paramount Theater but the kids love Pablo, Tyrone, Uniqua, Austin & Tasha so I figured this was a great opportunity for seeing them up close & personal. We got to the mall with about 15 minutes before the start time which was a good idea because soon after, the line was almost to the other end of the store. At the last minute Ragen decided he wasn't too keen on the interaction but surprisingly Maggie was all for meeting Pablo and friends!

Kicking off the Halloween season

We went to our first Halloween party yesterday and it's always a great one! The Newcomers had their annual party which is pretty impressive considering Julie is probably going to have her baby on Friday. She always has amazing art projects, never complains that her carpets get destroyed, yummy festive snacks and perfect weather. The kids talked about it all day and loved that it was "good practice" for their costumes.

Apparently Maggie didn't cheer loud enough when the Huskies played OSU

Maggie, Ragen, Colton Schneider & Clint Fiala

A flashback - Ragen & Clint with their daddies at just 5 months old