Holiday Update

These last couple of weeks have been so busy and so fun. Here are a few of the highlights:

On Tuesday, December 16th Jon had to be at a meeting until 7:00pm in Bellevue, so Matthew, Seth, and I decided to spend the evening with Grandmother Ruthie. As a bonus, we also got to spend time with Bracan, Rachel, Lucy, and Alice. We went out to eat and were favored to hear a local school jazz band. Lucy and Matthew enjoyed the tunes and took the opportunity to put on their dancing shoes for a while.
Wednesday night and all day Thursday we got more snow, so on Friday we headed to Edmonds to test out Grandma and Grandpa's driveway for sledding. It was fun to see Matthew enjoy sledding down the same hill that I enjoyed sledding down for so many years. I even went down the hill for old time sake. Matthew also enjoyed more play time with Lucy.
Saturday night we were hit with more snow, making about 6.5 inches in our backyard.
It was plenty of snow to make another snowman, this time in our own protected backyard.

The boys in their Christmas jammies.

This year we spent our first Christmas since the Christmas right before Matthew was born in our own home(I couldn't travel with a December 25th due date). Matthew woke up bright and early at around 5:00 and we held him off until 5:30 when we allowed the present opening to begin.

Here's a close up of Matthew's stocking; I started it before last Christmas and finished it at about 9:00 pm this Christmas Eve.
We were lucky enough to have two Christmases this year. Due to inclement weather, the Christmas packages from Grammy and Grampy were delayed. So, we had a second Christmas on the 26th when the packages arrived.

Now we are left contemplating how to organize the playroom to accommodate all the new toys, games, and books. Time for another toy rotation!

Santa Pictures and Our Little Elf

A couple of weeks ago Grandmother Ruthie and I took the boys to Bellevue Square to have Santa pictures taken. I choose the Santa at Bellevue Square after previewing him online. I had to make sure that Santa was dressed appropriately, not like this:
It was a fun outing. Matthew loved telling Santa everything that he wanted and Seth was happy to just sit there and drool (Had we a better digital copy of the picture you might notice the drool hanging off his lip. Who uses film these days? I'll tell you . . . the Santa at Bellevue Square. Sorry the scan is kind of losey). After the picture we played at the new Kid's Cove play area. It is by far the best and biggest mall playground that I've ever seen. Matthew had a blast and Seth loved watching all the kiddies go wild. Behold the Santa picture:

Matthew has been begging to dress Seth in a pair of Santa slippers and hat that used to be his. Actually, I don't think that Matthew ever wore them because he didn't show up before or on his Christmas due date. But I digress. So, Seth got all decked out for the ward Christmas party. He looked awfully cute and very festive.

More Snow

For the grandparents viewing pleasure (and because I'm proud of 'Matthew's' snowman) . . .

Snow!

We got snow last night in Seattle. We had quiet a bit of snow accumulate on the fence, but only about an inch accumulated on the grass, and our driveway didn't have anything stick to it. Even though it wasn't very much snow, our church was cancelled because they didn't want people driving on the snow.

Matthew wanted to go out and play in the snow. Since playing in the snow seemed appropriate, we decided to let him open one of his birthday presents a few weeks early.
He looked pretty good with his hat, coat, mittens, and boots--though he still wanted to wear his pajama bottoms.

We never thought that Matthew's excavator and dump truck would be anything by dirt/sand toys, but Matthew thought they would be very useful as a snow plow and snow remover.
Seth is still too little to play in such cold weather, so he got to look on from the comfort of the house.

Santa Train

Last week we were able to go on the Santa Train that starts in North Bend (up in the mountains near Seattle). Julie bought tickets back in October, because they sell out this train every year. Needless to say, Matthew was very excited in the days leading up to our train ride and in the moments when we were waiting for the train to arrive at the station.

It was pretty cold up in the mountains, but we were well prepared for the cold. Matthew got to wear his mittens and snow hat for the first time this year. Seth also got to wear his bunting and he was very warm.

The train was supposed to be an older train that has been refurbished. We didn't realize just how old it really was. This is the best picture we have of the train, so you can't see it very well. The seats had big springs under them, there was an actual boiler in the car that is supposed to be used to heat the train, and the stairways were so narrow and steep that you probably couldn't get them to pass any kind of modern regulation.

The train ride was only 15-20 minutes down to the station at Snoqualmie. At the Snoqualmie station they had a train museum that included a bunch of old train cars that aren't in use any more. One of the cars was an old military kitchen car in which people were making cookies and warming hot chocloate. The treats were actually pretty tasty, and Matthew was singing parts of the hot chocolate song from The Polar Express. Matthew also liked looking at all of the old cars, including this caboose.

The other big draw at the Snoqualmie station was seeing Santa Clause. We spent most of our time in Snoquamie waiting in line for Santa. Unfortunately, Seth had fallen asleep in line and was out cold. So, only Matthew saw Santa.


After seeing Santa Matthew, the exit goes through the gift shop (of course). Matthew chose one of the engines from the Thomas series that fits his train set at home. After that, we got back on the train to North Bend. It was a pretty day overall.

O Christmas Tree and 4 Month Check-up

Yesterday for Family Night we started putting up the Christmas tree. Of course, we had to run to the store to get lights because some of our strands were broken; so we didn't finish decorating until this morning. Matthew was very proud of the finished product. Next task on his list: Filling the Christmas tin he's holding in the pictures with candy.

Seth had his four month check-up today. It was a pretty traumatic experience. He's came down with a cold, so he's been pretty miserable. To add to the misery, his appointment time directly coincided with a meal and nap time. He made it through even though the doctor gave up on checking his eyes (He couldn't keep them open while screaming). Here are his stats:

Height: 26 inches (80%)
Weight: 13 pounds, 9 ounces (25%)
Head circumference: 40.4 centimeters (20%)

Here's a few pictures of my little running buddy:
He loves to lick his jacket.