Ava's Special Day

 Here's Ava anxiously waiting for my parents to come pick her up for their special date!

Ava with Grandpa and Nannie

 First stop, STARBUCKS for some warm steamed milk.  (she's not a chocolate girl).

 Next, lunch at the Georgian Room inside the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.  She said it was the fanciest place she's ever eaten at.  Ava loves anything FANCY!

They explored all the fun Christmas decorations inside the hotel.  This was her favorite Christmas tree... sparkly and pink!

Ava helping Santa point out all the kids on the nice list

And for the main event, they took her to the 5th Ave Theater to see Cinderella!

She LOVED it!!  Thanks Nannie and Grandpa for treating her to such a fun day!  She was just beaming when she got home and enjoyed telling us all about her day!

Apple Cup 2011

We got to experience our first "home" game at our "home away from home" for the next year.  Our fun, annual cross-State rivalry (aka Apple Cup) was at Century Link (Seahawks) Field.  It's interesting being right in down town Seattle for a game.  (Our beautiful UW campus is about 5 miles away from the heart of down town).  Finding a place to park and tailgate was more of a challenge, but we made do :)

 Cristian had his game face on!!  Here he is yelling GOOOOOO DAWGGGGGGSSS

 Inside the event center, they had a lot of fun activities set up for the kids.  A jump house,  a football obstacle course where you got to run through blocking dummies, weave through cones, and dive onto a mat and catch a pass.  They also had a football throw game where you stood about 10 yards away and tried to throw the ball into the target.  Cristian had a blast!

Grandpa and Cristian ready for kick off

 Daddy and Ava

 View from our seats

How sweet it was to see another Apple cup victory!!  What a fun season.  We sure love our Huskies, and can't wait for our bowl game at the end of December!  It's looking like we'll either end up in the 2nd or 3rd place Pac-12 bowl game... the Alamo Bowl or the Holiday Bowl.

Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, we go get our Christmas tree and decorate our house (inside and out) for Christmas.  We have hot cocoa, listen to Christmas music, watch The Elf, and also watch the Bridge Lighting and fireworks from our roof.  (weather permitting). It's a fun family day, and it gets everyone into the Christmas spirit!  Here are Kyle and the kids picking out our tree.

The fireplace mantel, with stocking hung by the chimney with care!

Our real tree, decorated in the living room

Our fake tree, decorated in the Family room

A picture of the kids hanging one of their ornaments

Happy Thanksgiving!

 My three Turkey's, Thanksgiving morning.  (Carter has the best bed head when he wakes up) :)

 Excited to see what the Great White Turkey left them in the oven!

 A gingerbread house, Christmas jammies, and a couple treats too!

 We made turkey muffins for breakfast

 Gobble Gobble

 Ava's turkey muffin

 I only have a couple of pictures from Thanksgiving, I completely spaced and forgot to get family pictures and everything.  But we had a wonderful dinner at my parents house with my Mom, Dad, sister,  Kyle's mom and dad, and the 5 of us.  It was a very quiet and relaxing Thanksgiving and dinner was delicious!  Then we went to my Uncle Dan's house that night for dessert.  I only have a couple of pictures... here is a pic of us playing a game.

 The other side of the room

 Grandpa and his boys

 Abby, Cami, and Ava did a little performance

 Ava playing the family game... it was her turn.  She was asked the question "Which batman character would you be"  There were 6 possible choices, she chose the one she would want to be, then we went around the room and everyone made a guess at which one she picked.  (She picked Cat Woman.  I was wrong... I guessed Bat Girl)

Simba snuggling my mom :)

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends!

Apple Cup Party

 The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Cristian's class had an Apple Cup party.  My friend Erika and I got these cute donuts for their class.  We debated getting all Husky ones, but figured we should be politically correct and represent both of our Washington Colleges.  The Husky donuts were more popular then the cougar ones, FYI :)

 Cristian back in the "Husky" corner of the room.

 His teacher put purple and gold streamers above his table (but Crimson and grey ones throughout the rest of the room)  that was so sweet of her!  Erika brought in purple balloons for each table!

 Cristian and his husky dog!

Cristian's teacher, who, as you can tell... is a Cougar fan.  We forgive her!!  She was a Husky fan, but both her boys currently attend WSU.  Maybe one day she'll switch back to the good side :)

Food Bank

 Cristian and Ava's school had a canned food drive to help support our local food bank for the Holiday Season.  They had a contest with our neighboring elementary school to see who could get the most canned food for the food bank, and the winning school's Principal would dance on the street corner by Little Caesar's.  Between the two schools, they donated more then 7,000 canned food items!  (which tripled the amount they raised last year).  Great job Maple Lawn and Daffodil Elementary students!!  Some of the top donators were invited by our Principal to dance with him, since Maple Lawn won the contest!  It also happened to be "Apple Cup" Friday at school, hence all the Husky clothes :)  Here are the kids walking to go dance on the street corner.

 My friend Erika and I watching the kids and enjoying a Starbucks :)

 The kids dancing

 Ava and her friend Ari

Cristian got to hold the Maple Lawn sign

All the kids with our awesome Principal!  When he retires, he'd make an excellent Little Caesar's dancer :)  What a fun night for the kids, and a great way to help our community!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

I blog about this every year... I get so excited when these 3 things appear in stores. Why does my latte taste so much better in the Red cup? I wish satsumas were sold year round... they are so tasty, and are an excellent addition to my kids' school lunches!! And I love teeny tiny candy canes, which also find their way into the kids' school lunches :). I'm not one of those people who over look Thanksgiving. I really enjoy that holiday too, but there is definitely something Magical about Christmas, and it doesn't bother me at all that it "appears" in stores the day after Halloween! I do hold off to decorate my house until Thanksgiving is over (can't say I don't fight the urge to Deck the Halls mid-Nov), but I manage to hold off every year. But, the second it is over, up goes my Christmas stuff. I count down the days until "D-Day" (Decorating Day) every year! So, as they say... " `Tis the Season to be Jolly" and Happy Holiday's Y'all! And yes, by Holidays, I mean Thanksgiving too!

Mighty Are the Memories

At our last game at the "Old" Husky stadium... the stadium that was been a 2nd home to me on Saturdays during the fall for the past 31 years. So many of my husky memories include the pre-game tailgates with family. We're not sure if we'll be able to tailgate next year, since since space and parking is more limited in down town Seattle. So, we enjoyed what could be our last tailgate for awhile. Carter enjoyed it so much, he fell asleep in Nannie's lap. 7:30 game times are hard on a 3 year old.
One of my most favorite memories at Husky Stadium was watching the National Championship Season in 1991. (the team was honored during half time) What fun it is to watch a team absolutely dominate each and every game, go undefeated, and end the season with a win in the Rose Bowl against Michigan to finish 12-0. 20 years may have passed, but the memories will last a life time! I hope my kids will get to witness a spectacular season just like this one at the new Husky Stadium in their life time! So long, Husky stadium... we'll see the brand new you in 2013.

More Flag Football

So far, we've really lucked out weather wise during C's flag football season. Considering he has practices twice a week and games every Saturday... in the first month of football he's only played in the rain once. (knock on wood). Here he is warming up before his game. (in the purple hat)
lined up as wide receiver on the far left side
playing a little defense
My dad holding the first down marker
Cristian and his buddies, Peyton and Hayden.