First Comes Love...

We partied hard with neighbors for New Year's Eve this year, and it was perfect - no need to dress up, tackle crowds, or spend big bucks - add to that great friends who are also neighbors, and it's a win/win.

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!

...ain't always easy, but we had a fantastic holiday anyway 😉 Per usual, we joined my family in Leavenworth for an extended holiday weekend and Kevin's parents joined us, too.

What a fun halloween we had this year!

Another memorable year at Alderbook is in the books!

We had a great time celebrating BOTH Easter and my Mom's birthday this year!

I can't recall the last time I went out to celebrate NYE, and that's perfectly fine.  The holiday is always filled with such expectation and pressure, so staying home to party with the kids seemed to fit the bill (and who can argue with drinking Mimosas all day?) . We made pizzas, had a dance party, made a calendar of events for the year, watched a Netflix New Year countdown, then tucked the kids in early for a late night celebrations with friends. Here are some pictures from a raging night at the Lauckner's:

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!  

Wishing you a joyous day with those you love most. Merry Christmas!

Our holiday traditions continued this past week (and I'm starting to feel like we could shave a few traditions off the list...I'm exhausted already!) Last Tuesday night after Abigail's Girl Scout holiday tea, we met Mamie and Papa at Cheesecake Factory for dinner then to Snowflake Lane.  It was a special year being Ben's first time and the kids had a great time; parked right in front of all the action! Here are some pictures from the evening:

We saw Santa last night! The kids are always extremely excited to see Santa each year, and this year all three were totally on board.  No one was scared - they all couldn't wait to see the big guy and let him know exactly what they wanted for Christmas.

We had a very relaxing Thanksgiving in Leavenworth this year.  Mamie and Papa decided to join Anne and Ian for their first year in Jersey, so it was just us, Victor, Catherine, and my parents. We spent the holiday weekend eating, drinking, and setting up for Christmas (George is REALLY into Christmas this year and was thrilled with the idea of setting up Gma and Gpa's tree the day after Thanksgiving). Here are some pictures from the weekend:

We enjoyed a relaxing Labor Day weekend with close friends at a cabin on Lake Cavanaugh this year. Somewhat last minute, Kevin found a rental house on the lake and we spent three days and two nights playing in the water, relaxing on the dock, and enjoying great food and company.

We enjoyed another great 4th at Alderbrook this year! The daytime entertainment (live music, oyster eating contest, crafts for the kids) was wonderful, the fireworks show was amazing, and the parade the following morning was again a huge highlight for the kids (for Kevin too, who got to sing the Star Spangled Banner while standing next to Melinda Gates!) George loved running around on stage with the other boys and all three loved dancing to the music.  George, Ben, and Kevin even made a cameo in the local newspaper (although we have yet to receive copies). This is a tradition we hope to continue for a long time! Here are some pictures from this year:

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...

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.

Easter was so much fun this year! Sure, it was harder to decorate, prepare, and celebrate with three kids on board, but we managed to do pretty well considering it all. A couple days before Easter, I told Abigail we were going to decorate eggs after dinner one night.  We completely forgot, but then next morning, she comes running into our room, "Mom!  We need to decorate our eggs!!" So here's what 6:45am looked like that morning! A couple days later we went to visit the Easter Bunny at Bellevue Square with Ashlee and Trace. Abigail had spoken with the Easter Bunny (thanks, Reid!) a couple days before, letting him know she wanted Elsa and Anna dolls for Easter.  As it turned out, she ended up requesting a Barbie from him in person (so back to the store I went, to return the Frozen dolls and grab a Barbie) George REFUSED to wear his dress shirt.  So Kevin cued his Sir Topham Hat voice to seal the deal (George would jump off a bridge ...

This past weekend we went to see Santa. Abigail is really into the stories of Santa, the elves, and The North Pole this year, so it's been a lot of fun.  She's watched Elf a few times this week (which is SO much better than The Muppet's Movie we watched 4,746 times the past few weeks, thanks to George) and she asks about Santa, his elves, and The North Pole a lot. It's super adorable. We haven't succumb to an elf on the shelf (and I hope I never do!) but telling her the elves are watching from the clouds and will tell Santa if she's being naughty, seems to be keeping her incredibly obedient this past week. Yay! I remember when I was young, if I acted up around Christmas time, my Mom would whisper sternly  "Santa's watching!" and so, our "the Elves are watching" seems to be doing the trick - thanks Mom  :) Some pictures below are from our visit to Santa on Sunday.  George was sick (he's the sickest health guy I've eve...