Christmas, Party of Eight

 The best part about Christmas this year was that we were all together.  

Kya and Clayton (tried to) surprised us by driving home a day early.  Then Jordan and Mikel had to day off so they (tried to) surprised us by coming over too!  So when Mike got home from picking Tyson up from the airport, everyone was here:)  

Practicing "Dress to Impress Poses" (pose 28 mostly haha)

Christmas Sunday

We decorated sugar cookies 

Traditional BAD picture at Evergreen Lights

We decided to give ice skating on Christmas Eve another go...I opted not to skate because of my PTSD from the tailbone incident two years ago.  Everyone had a good time except Summer who quit after maybe 3 laps and declared that next year we should skip skating.

Jordan and Mikel had to work just about every day until the evening of Christmas Eve.  We were so excited when they finally got home!  We went straight to sibling gifts:)  We drew names this year, just to keep the cost down for the kids.  Everyone was so happy with their gifts...especially Summer who got spoiled with FOUR presents from Jordan.

We then moved on to our gingerbread competition...Kya and Clayton's first test of their marriage--haha.

Christmas Jammies were fun this year.  Everyone got a "most likely to..."  And Summer got to do grown up PJs for the first time:)

Christmas morning was as magical as ever.  I was the first one up--shocker, but the kids quickly followed.  I think it was about 7:30am.

Callie was the star of the show, giving everyone so much love on Christmas.  We didn't realize until later that Stormi was actually sick (with a swollen lip) which is probably why she was MIA all day.

The girls made the traditional charcuterie board (wearing their matching Aritzia sets)

Gluten free brownie trifle was amazing

Delicious Turkey Dinner

And of course, the Christmas Cracker crowns...I think each boy went through two crowns before the picture haha.  Good thing I had extras!

And that's a wrap on another beautiful Christmas

Ukulele Recital

I miss Christmas Concerts!  When my older kids were young, their schools all seemed to do some type of Holiday/Winter/Christmas concert.  But Summer's school doesn't do anything like that, and when she was in piano, her teacher didn't do recitals at Christmas time.  So I was very excited to hear that Summer's Ukulele teacher was having a recital in December...even if they weren't play a Christmas song (they played "This Land is Your Land".  

Summer was super nervous and did NOT want to perform, but she did a fantastic job.  She even had a verse where she was the only one playing.  I have loved listening to her practice the ukulele, and hope I can get her to stick with it long enough for her to love it too.

Our Silver Anniversary

How old must we be to have been married for 25 years?!  Craziness! 

I felt a lot of pressure to do something significant since 25 years is kind of a big deal.  But with our anniversary in December, I never want to go anywhere.  The kids were due to come home in the next couple days, and I just wanted to get everything ready for Christmas.  

But, there was something I really wanted...something that I had wanted for a long time...something that we really didn't need....something that was expensive...something that I maybe could pass off as something for our anniversary....right?  Luckily, my husband was on board, or just got so sick of me asking.  So...for our anniversary, we got a new bedroom set--and I LOVE it:) 

25 Highlights

1.Our beautiful wedding, sealing, open house, reception

2.  Honeymoon in Niagara Falls (aka meeting Mike's family for the first time)

3.  Jordan's Birth (becoming parents)

4.  Moving to California (accepting a job at Sony)

5.  Kya's Birth

6.  Moving to Monterey/Marina 

7.  Tyson's Birth

8.  Getting our first kitty (Miley)

9. Moving to Los Angeles

10.  Season Passes to Disneyland

11.  Soccer, softball, and basketball games

12.  Dance recitals

13.  Trips to the beach

14.  Big Bear

15.  Palm Springs

16.  Summers in Canada

17.  Move to Washington

18.  Trip to Hawaii

19.  Summer's Birth

20.  Trip to Mexico

21.  Trip to Creston

22.  Trip to NY/DC/Toronto

23.  Trip to Europe (England/France)

24.  Trip to Finland/Sweden

25.  All the great talks and laughs 

Ok, the trips kind of took over the list haha.  But honestly, I think my absolute favorite memories are the times we spend at home with all our kiddos just laughing and talking and being together.  It really is a beautiful life we have created together.

What an amazing 25 years it has been!

November

Since November is the month of gratitude, let's make a list of things I am grateful for...that happened this November:)

-I took a solo trip to Canada 

(stocked up on scarves from Grandma and did a sisters/mom dinner at White Spot)

-I voted (for President) for the first time...although I wasn't happy with the results:/ Trump

-Mike and I saw Wicked (the musical)--Amazing!!!

-We had a huge wind storm that shut off power for most of Bothell and Woodinville, but ours stayed on:)  We had to find something (kitties) to entertain us while the rest of the town was shut down

-School was cancelled for 2 days because of the power outage

(which meant Summer got to go to Elevated Sportz with Genevieve)

-At Summer's parent/teacher conference her teacher raved about what a great student she was

-We got to go to the Scholastic Book Fair (for the last year)

-We made popcorn balls

-Tyson came home for Thanksgiving

-We set up and decorated the Christmas tree

-We went to the movies to see Wicked as a family

Why didn't I take a picture??

-We ate a delicious turkey dinner

No picture of the turkey dinner this year either.  I had high hopes for this gluten free pie, but the crumble wasn't great.  All the gluten free attempts for Thanksgiving weren't great...try again next year.

There are so many things to be thankful for each and every day.  I am blessed beyond measure.

Halloween 2024

Fall Foliage

I absolutely love growing our own pumpkins:)  Although this year, I accidently bought two extra zucchini plants and only 4 pumpkin plants--oops.  Summer went to a pumpkin carving activity with her friend this year, so it's ok that we didn't get around to carving any of ours this year--oops again.

Magical fall street in Bothell! 

I can't stop taking pictures of the beautiful trees...seriously, it's a problem:)

Pumpkin Patch

This year, some friends invited us to a bon fire at the pumpkin patch.  We, of course, had to fit in the traditional pictures, and stop at the shop for peaches and gummies...sadly, no donuts for us gluten free people.  There were definitely less pumpkins at Bob's Corn this year--weird.

Only one year apart!  I guess it was a year of growth for Summer.

It was a rainy bonfire in the corn maze!  But still fun...

Cute Costumes

This year, Summer knew exactly what she wanted to be for Halloween.  Probably because she's reading Twilight:)  She was the cutest little vampire ever!  And yay that the very first costume we bought was perfect and fit her just right.  

Mike and I did very last minute costumes this year (reused from a murder mystery dinner we went to a couple years back).  Summer only let me do the bun in her hair for the first party, then it was down after that (apparently a bun with so much hair is heavy haha--I wouldn't know).

Trick or Treating 

We started with the trunk or treat at church the Saturday before Halloween.  It was dry all day...until everyone started decorating their trunks, then it poured the rest of the night!

Summer has trick or treated with her friend Reese for the past few years, so I was happy to keep the tradition alive this year...maybe their last year with parents, since next year is middle school.  Just like with the trunk or treat, it was dry all day until we started trick or treating, then it rained the rest of the night!  Such a rainy Halloween this year.

This house always has the best decorations!

So much candy!

Always glad when Halloween is over:)