December Part I

The phone round-up was nice and easy last time and so I'm going to continue to catch up using that method.  

We returned home safely from Thanksgiving and I was eager to get our house decorated for Christmas!  

Family Room

My new holiday decor purchase this year: the table runner (it wasn't long enough for our table, though. Whoops!).

A favorite ornament.  December is a particularly wonderful month for us because we celebrate our wedding anniversary!  7 years and no itching over here!

Living (piano)/Dining Room: Quinn loved looking at the ornaments all month long.  I lost track of how many times Pat had to re-glue Quinn's "special" ornaments.

The first weekend in December my family came into town for the annual Redmond Chorale Christmas concert.  Ryan doesn't always come, but since he didn't make it home for Thanksgiving the week before he decided to join us.  We all love having family around!

If you know me, you know card games were played.

And my parents and Ryan entertained the kids most of the weekend while Pat and I were busy with Redmond Chorale obligations.  Kira clearly loves climbing on her Papa.

Kira got to join Quinn at his preschool for what his teacher calls "holiday help".  She simply takes the kids and siblings a couple of extra mornings during the month of December to give parents time to get all of their holiday errands run.  Awesome!  I was pretty nervous to send Kira but am happy, and a little embarrassed, to report that the only tears shed were from me.  She loved getting to go to school with Quinn!  Once I knew she was happy without me, I thoroughly enjoyed my extra time.

Pat and I got in several dates this month.  This particular evening was the night of his holiday party.

Pat took off our wedding anniversary and we were planning a breakfast date alone while the kids went to "holiday help".  Unfortunately, that morning it got cancelled last minute and so we had to adjust our plans.  We took the kids to Jump Planet and jumped around like kids ourselves.  It was practically empty and we had a great time together.

That evening Pat and I went out to a nice dinner in Seattle and then to a comedy club (with a little hot chocolate stop in the middle to try and keep warm).  It was lovely in theory, but the comedy club was ridiculously ghetto.  We got a good laugh out of the experience at the time, and it was nice to just be together.  But, I don't think we'll be back.  Happy 7 years, honey!!

Throughout the month Pat and I enjoyed episodes of Homeland after the kids went to bed.

Quinn taped my mouth shut because he was tired of me telling him "no" so much, I guess.  I thought it was pretty funny.

We made up when I taught him how to play dodgeball.  I thought I'd regret it, but so far it's still pretty fun.

There was a lot of Happy Action Theatre played on the Kinect.

And we went on one holiday related family outing, to the Gingerbread Village in Seattle.  The gingerbread houses were amazing, and Quinn was completely enthralled.  Kira, on the other hand, did not appreciate the art or the crowds.







No naps for Quinn means plenty of one-on-one time for us.  This particular afternoon we pulled out the playdough. He's such a goof.



Before and after haircut shots.  I hated the haircut unless it was styled, but it's growing on me.  










We baked sugar cookies inspired by this cute bowl we received as a Christmas gift (thanks Jamie!).

And then Quinn got really sick... like, double-pink-eye-double-ear-infection kind of sick.

Kira stayed healthy for the first couple of days, and so I took her on a little outing to the library while Pat stayed home with Quinn one afternoon.  I LOVE one-on-one dates with my kids.

But Quinn and I ended up at the doctor's office two days in a row, just before we were set to travel for Christmas.  

 I bought a lot of drugs, purell, and vitamins to help get us through.

To be continued...