First Comes Love...

Happy Holidays - I hope yours were filled with all your favorite people and traditions!

Kevin and I kicked it up a notch this year for our annual visit to Santa with dinner at Hamanasu followed by a night at the Hyatt! We've been waiting to make this a bigger deal (add the overnight piece) for a few years, but this was the first year we felt the kids were old enough for it - and it was sooo much fun!

We've discovered a sort of family sub-culture this summer that we're totally digging - we spent this past weekend at Camp Don Bosco family camp and had such a great time!

Anne and Ian flew into town last week and we had an awesome weekend hanging out with family at Lake Samish.

Happy Mother's Day, ladies! This year we celebrated with a trip to Suncadia for the weekend.  Kevin and the kids surprised me with this trip and after George's karate class on Saturday, we headed to Roslyn for a fun-filled 24 hours.

Kevin, the kids, and I got away last weekend to San Juan Island!

We had a white Christmas in Issaquah this year! Celebrations began Christmas Eve.  We had Kevin's parents and Uncle Mike and Uncle Kent over for dinner and a sleepover.  It was so much fun settling in with family, watching the snow come down as we relaxed by the fire with cocktails and good company.  The kids were especially excited that everyone would be spending the night and as it worked out, it was best this way with all the snow. The kids loved their gifts (Abigail's karaoke machine being an all around favorite!) and we topped off a great meal and dessert with a snowy walk around the neighborhood.  Even Mabel got in on the fun, pulling the kids on a wooden sled built by Kirk years ago. It was hands down my favorite Christmas Eve in recent memory; a perfectly magical celebration! Ben's smile... ha!  

Abigail and I took Mamie to The Georgian Room for her birthday this year! It's been somewhat of an ongoing tradition but Abigail was delighted to join this year (she did around a year old, but she obviously doesn't remember that). Kirk watched the boys while we headed into town.  George was sad that he wasn't able to join, so he and I decided that we would pack some decorations and donuts for he and Papa to plan and surprise Mamie with when we got back. He seemed good with that 😊 Here are some pictures from the afternoon.

Kevin and the kids pulled off a great Mother's Day once again! I was showered with gifts (some great new Lululemon gear, aka stay at home Mom wear 😉) and sweet notes from the kids. To celebrate we had an early brunch at the Salty's at Redondo Beach, then spent the afternoon at the house with my family. Here are some pictures from the morning:

If I wait much longer, I could write about this and next year's celebrations...  Life with pup, kids, and home projects has been busy, but I'm back to share stories from Easter. Holidays get sweeter each year as the kids are growing up and better able to understand each holiday's meaning.  Both Abigail and George were very excited for Easter this year between their class parties with egg hunts (George's was class-only, Abigail's I was able to partake in), dying Easter eggs, going to church (Abigail practically begged us to go, then ran up to Fr. Todd TWICE to hug him, both before Mass, and during the recessional 🙈), and our Easter celebration with family. We decorated eggs a couple days before Easter, then on Saturday, Abigail decided we needed to go to the mall to see the Easter Bunny.  In year's past, I have only done this on a child's first Easter, but since she asked (and we didn't have dinner planned that night anyway), we headed to Bellevue S...

How did I let three weeks pass by without so much as mentioning Mabel?  We are having so much fun with the addition of a puppy to the family, although Kevin and I seem to have different definitions of fun  😉

I suppose early February is as good of time as any to get started on our Christmas post  😉 We had a wonderful Christmas celebration this year! While most of Kevin's family wasn't around to celebrate with us, we had Mamie and Papa over on Christmas Eve and they spent the night, enjoying Christmas morning with us as well.  As always, Mamie came stocked with Christmas cookies for the kids to decorate, and we enjoyed lots of delicious food and festivities.

Monday night we celebrated Papa's big 6-0 with a surprise BBQ at Alki! Amy invited a bunch of friends; Kevin, Anne, and I got the food, drink, and decorations prepared and we set off for a night spent celebrating Papa Getting started...Anne, her kids, us, and Brian were there to greet him B found some cool new toys The juice cooler  ;) G was really excited to take this picture; Oscar was not BBQing with the babe Beach stroll (she really wanted to go in!) Pushing her brother down the strip Slack lining baby Lighting 60 candles! Happy Birthday, Papa! You are an amazing Father, Grandpa, and friend and we're so blessed to have you in our lives.  We had such an amazing night celebrating you and the 60 years you've been here, caring for others and pouring your heart into their lives. Here's to another decade of making the world a better place! We love you

I'm still recovering from Benjamin's big day! We celebrated his baptism on May 15th, surrounded by our family and friends. This time around felt especially personal since we've been attending St Joe's and were greeted by several familiar faces. Months ago I asked Susie to be Benjamin's Godmother (and Victor to be his Godfather), so she and Godfather Pete (my Godfather) flew in from NY to celebrate with us. The day was full of meaning, symbolism, and love, and I soaked in every moment possible, feeling these precious days slipping by all too fast. Thankfully we took a pre-baptism picture (of course it was the best we got!) The Rite of Reception  Abigail was thrilled to have Danielle with her  Dad and the soon-to-be Holy One  ;) Sacred Chrism (which we've been smelling on Benny for almost two weeks now!) Godfather Victor lighting the Baptismal candle A knot Viking bean...