Great Wolf Lodge

The kids were very excited that we let them skip school on Friday January 21st to spend the day/night at the Great Wolf Lodge! We left our house pretty early so we could get there and have the majority of the day to play, play, play! Here they are posing while we were checking in.
Ready for some water park fun!
kind of a bad picture, but the only one I had of all of us at the water park. It is very difficult to take pictures with all the water.
Cristian was tall enough to do the BIGGEST waterslide at the park this trip... the Howlin' Tornado. Here he is coming off of it with Kyle after his first time on it.
A big hit!! Since we basically had the water park to ourselves, he went on this MANY times!
Carter playing with the little water fountains.
Ava on the red slide
LOVED it!!
Again, not a good picture, but one of the only ones I was in, haha.
Kyle and the kids going down one of the kid slides together
Ava playing on the jet ski
Cristian under a big water fall
We also brought my sister along with us, and she took Ava on her first ride down one of the big water slides. Ava was tall enough for every waterslide except the Tornado. So, lots of "firsts" on this trip :)
Coming down other really big water slide :)

The kids were excited when their friends arrived. Ava and Natalie went many water slides together


Cristian, Alyssa, and Caleb after several trips down the Howlin' Tornado
Carter having a blast! And doing so well without a nap.

Ava taking a shower
All 3 of my kids
Choo Choo train of kiddos
Carter all smiles!
Cristian playing on the jet ski
Ava floating in the water
After several hours of water fun, we went back to the room and showered, got a snack, and then set off to play the Wizard Wand game.
Carter... the proud new owner of his very own wand!!
Carter didn't last long... he fell asleep and poor Kyle had to carry him all over the hotel.
The next morning the kids finished their dragon quest and defeated the dragon!


The 5 of us

Lunch

It's always a treat to go have lunch with our favorite 2nd grader :) It's become our Thursday tradition!!

Hair Cut

Before haircut...
and after :)

Playoffs!

What a surprise!! Not only did our 7-9 Seattle Seahawks squeak into the playoffs, they actually beat the defending Super Bowl Champion, New Orleans Saints in the Wild card round of the playoffs. We were jumping up and down!! No one even gave us a chance at winning this game... but obviously the Seahawks did not get that memo! Today (Jan 14th) Cristian's school honored our home town team by making today, Seahawks Spirit day at school! As I was dropping Cristian off at school, it was fun to see all the kids get out of their cars wearing their Seahawks gear!! We're anxiously awaiting our next playoff game in Chicago this Sunday... which will no doubt be a tough game. But hey, we already beat them once at home this year, so anything can happen!! I guess that's why we play the game, and not pay attention to the odds! GO HAWKS!!!!

January 3

While Andy and Julianne were in town for a couple of weeks, Kyle and I got a chance to go out with them one night, and it just so happened to be on their 7th wedding Anniversary. It was great seeing them over the Holiday, and really nice to get to sit down and chat for several hours just the 4 of us! Happy Anniversary, guys!!

Seahawks vs. Rams

On January 2nd, my sister and I went to the Seahawks game vs. the Rams! It was an exciting game to go to because the winner would be the NFC West champion.
We had great seats and had a great time, but I have to say... this was the COLDEST I have ever been at a football game, even with my 3 shirts, fleece, coat, gloves, boots, and blanket!
Congratulations to the 2010 NFC West Champion, Seattle Seahawks!!

Christmas with Kyle's family

New Year's Weekend Kyle's family was able to come over so we could exchange gifts with them and celebrate Christmas. Cristian was excited to get the X-wing Star Wars lego set!!
Carter LOVES Mickey Mouse :)
Ava and her Fur Real walking puppy
After he opened his presents, he went right to work on his legos
Ava walking her puppy around the house
Carter being silly
Grandpa Larry and the kids
On our way to dinner, Carter feel asleep and was just OUT! I was giving him kisses and snuggles, and he did not even stir. So we just let him sleep on the bench.
The family at dinner
Carter woke up just as we were all finishing dinner.
Ava getting into the car after a huge dinner!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year with a toast to the Huskies (after re-watching the Holiday Bowl, as seen on the TV). What a way to close out a fabulous 2010!
My parents brought us back three of these beauties!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! Blessings to you and yours this 2011.

Holiday Bowl 2010

After weeks of anticipation, game day finally arrived!! The bummer was we had to wait until 7:00pm for kick off. I had all this nervous energy all day; I felt just like I used to before a gymnastics meet. So, I decided to put away all my Christmas decor to pass the time. And boy did it, it took me 5 hours to disassemble and put it all away. Then I switched my focus to food and went grocery shopping for our "tailgate" in our family room. We also put out some husky "decor" to show our team spirit.
Go Dawgs!!
I did leave out one of our Christmas trees (but took all the ornaments off of it). Here are me and my Husky kids!
My sister joined us to watch the Holiday bowl too! (and we were wearing matching Holiday bowl shirts :)
game face
during half time these two played with this...
and auntie and Cristian put together some legos

Pretty darn excited for our Dawgs!!
What a GREAT game!! Huskies were major under"dawgs" but they DOMINATED those Huskers!! So proud of my Huskies!!! You'll notice my parents are absent from these photos because they went San Diego to the game... lucky DAWGS!! :)