Family Visit–December 18-20

A week before Christmas, my brother David’s mission companion got married in the Portland temple, so David flew up for the weekend.  Since this also coincided with Camille flying in for a Christmas visit to my parents, we had a mini get-together at our house for the weekend.  It was quite the group with my mom and dad, Jake, Stacey, and their two kids, David, and Camille.

 

Davis, James, and Kallie on the floor, and Davis making a “bridge” on the chair with Kallie and Landon joining him

More shots around the house – Ethan and James; Jake holding the two babies; Shane and Davis; Crafts with Grandma

After two different Christmases of attempting to see the parade of ships with David and my parents, they finally made it on Saturday with no weather preventing us from going.  We got there just in time to see all of the boats, and the rain even let up for a little bit while we were there.  We were a little disappointed when we arrived and they told us our wait would be 2 1/2 hours for a table, but luckily they misquoted us by 2 hours, so the wait wasn’t bad at all!

Landon and Davis in front of the tree outside Spaghetti Factory.

Some shots of us eating dinner.

On Sunday, we had fun playing the chimes.  I also made my first attempt at making a buche de noel.  It turned out pretty good! 

Landon, David, and Davis excited to eat the buche.

We also tried something else new this year.  We went to Peacock Lane in Portland, a street famous for its Christmas lights.  It was fun to see the lights, and although it was busy, it didn’t seem too crowded.  We stopped downtown after and found some treasures at the big Ross, one of our favorite shopping places.   It was a fun visit!

Zoolights – December 8, 2010

On Wednesday night, we took advantage of a brief few hours of dry in our rainy week and went to see the zoolights.  Last year, we went in the pouring rain, but there was nobody there.  This time, it wasn’t too crowded, but it was dry and not too cold either. 

 

Watching the bear catching a fish out of the river (animated in lights)

Shane told us to stand under this wreath, put our hands in the air, and yell “Wahoo!” so here we are dutifully following his instructions.

 

The boys with Uncle Kelly in front of the zoo train, and with Shane by the diving penguins.

  It was a great night at zoolights!

Our Christmas Tree

Last Saturday, we drove out to a Christmas tree farm.  It was a nice, dry, and relatively warm day, perfect for cutting down a Christmas tree.  Kelly came with us, which made the cutting down of the tree and the transporting back home quite easy as Kelly has both a chain saw and a truck. After finding several possibilities, we found the one we wanted.

P.S.  We brought Kelly along for his company – the truck and chain saw were just an added bonus.  :)

 

Landon and Davis hanging out while looking for a tree, and our family in front of the tree before we cut it down.

Kelly with the boys, and Shane and Kelly cutting down the tree.

   

Two cute boys!

On Monday, we decorated the tree.  The boys were so excited, and I didn’t try to hard to arrange things perfectly because I could see that it would just all be rearranged anyway! 

    

Davis checking out the tree, and baby James’s hangout while we were decorating.

 

 

We had to put the star on twice, of course! 

  A final pose in front of the decorated tree.

Run, Run, as Fast as You Can! - December 2, 2010

This year, we are doing an advent calendar where we read a scripture each day, then open a gift that outlines a Christmas-related activity we will be doing that day.  On December 2, we opened a gingerbread cookie mix, and after telling Landon and Davis the story of the gingerbread man, we made our own gingerbread cookies. 

 

This is the lovely face Davis made when I asked him to smile for the camera.

      

James was having fun in his little exersaucer while the boys decorated their cookies.

First Solids – December 1, 2010

Last week, we introduced James to his first solid foods with some rice cereal for dinner.  As you can see from the pictures, he wasn’t too sure about the whole thing, and pulled quite a few funny faces, but he has caught on quickly and now eats like a pro, opening his mouth wide for every delicious bite of rice cereal.