half way there!

December always goes by way too quickly!! Even with our countdown, where the amount of days left until Christmas is in my face everyday, time still slipped by me and I just ordered my Christmas cards last night. The order confirmation said I could receive them as late as Dec 23. Oops.

Chain recap:

1. Christmas Movie Night (The Polar Express), 2. Build a Clubhouse, 3. Leavenworth, 4. Santa Train, 5. Help another kid have a fun Christmas - after we talked about why this is important, he offered to give $5 of his own money without me having to suggest anything (we all matched his donation and then scored this awesome $40 Lego set for 50% off!!) 6. Candy Canes

Elf on the Shelf recap:

1. Made a snow angel, 2. Hid in the ball bin, 3. Cleaned the chimney for Santa, 4. Had some Raisin Bran, 5. Made a snowman, 6. Wrote a letter to Andrew

santa train

Two handsome boys ready to see Santa...

On Saturday we went on the (Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad) Santa train with the Tuomistos. It was very cool!

I think Andrew's favorite part of riding a train is giving them his ticket. He always gets very excited for that part!

Once they took our ticket, they told us when we'd get to see Santa. We were close to the front, so we bascially saw Santa right after the train got started. It should've been cool, but because Mason was still unsure about the train, seeing Santa wasn't really all that exciting for him...

Enjoying the train.

The grownups.

The kids.

I love iphones! I don't have one, but all the kids seem to... : )

Leavenworth

On Friday we went to Leavenworth to watch my niece Madisyn's choir sing as part of the tree lighting ceremony. It was the perfect reason for us to make our first trip to Leavenworth at Christmastime!

Madisyn's fan club. : )

When Andrew saw the three of them walking down the street he pointed out that Aunt Melanie isn't very big. : )

This is Mason's "if I'm really cute, I know you'll let me" smile... He was in the process of sneaking a piece of candy here.

clubhouse

This clubhouse was one of my great finds on Black Friday! The first one I found was a Christmas/gingerbread house for $25. While I was trying to decide if that was way too much to spend, I found this one at Michael's for way less plus we had a coupon so it ended up making this cost about $7!! The boys had a lot of fun coloring it and playing in it - well worth $7!!

6 down, 18 to go

Chain recap:

1. North Pole Breakfast, 2. S'mores (borrowed picture) 3. Santa's Arrival, 4. Window Clings (Andrew one-upped my idea when he asked to do them on the car windows), 5. Paper Snowflakes, 6. Garden Lights

Elf on the Shelf recap:

1. Joined us for breakfast, 2. Played the guitar (ornament), 3. Played with some toys, 4. Slept in Mason's bed (luckily Mason woke up around 4:30 this morning and I remembered I hadn't hid him yet), 5. Hid in Andrew's shoe bin, 6. Went for a drive (I also like this shot because it's the first evidence that Mason actually has a stocking).

garden lights

Visiting the garden lights was so much fun this year! Thanks to the boys being in great moods and actually finding the lights exciting, this was by far the most fun we've had of the three years we've gone.

welcome, Haylen

We finally got to meet Haylen! She's a sweet, sleepy, snuggly little lady who, I'm pretty sure, already likes me a lot! : )

santa came to Bothell

On Saturday we went to Country Village with the Leonardsons to watch Santa fly in. We also rode the train, which Andrew said was fun but "creeped him". I guess he doesn't like nighttime train rides through a parking lot. Now I know.

The end.

snow day

On Saturday we had the perfect snow day. We went to an event that trucked in a bunch of snow and then we left. And there was no more snow!

the mall

If you ever want to feel old, just go to the mall on a Friday night. Yikes. And if you ever want to feel cool, just hang out with me when I force you to take a picture in front of a fun wall at the mall. : )

I met up with my friends last night for our annual night out. After dinner we tried to do some Christmas shopping but I was the only one who bought anything and it was only an $8 item, so it wasn't a huge success. What was a success though was trying on fur coats in Macy's with Katie! There are some really ugly things for sale right now... Unfortunately Kelly missed out on the fashion show because she had to go home due to a wardrobe malfunction : )

The three of us have been friends officially since senior year of high school but have known each other for much longer than that. I feel pretty lucky to have these ladies living so close so we can still get together! It's always so much fun!

it's Christmastime!!

I decided to do a countdown to Christmas chain again this year. I don't know why I was even debating it - I love this crap!

Day one: North Pole Breakfast.

{Yep, those are mitten and heart shaped pancakes}

We also met our elf, Jingle. I'd never heard of Elf on the Shelf until I got him for my birthday, but now that I know about it, I realize it's everywhere you look!! Anyway, if you're not familiar with it, you basically hide him or set him up doing silly things so he's in a different place every morning. This is how he joined us this morning.

Andrew is very excited about him! We didn't set it up for him to think he's real but I think it's just part of the fun that you want him to be. I told him that I'd been warned that our elf can be very mischievous and he looked at me and said "for real...not for real, right?" I think he's still trying to figure it out. : )

The snow was the biggest hit. They played with it while I made breakfast. Then we made more and kept playing. Then we took a little break and went back for more. If you've never tried instant snow, you should do it!

dermatology

Welcome to the raddest picture on the face of the earth: (his huge eyes crack me up!)

Today was Andrew's appointment with the dermatologist. The good news is the doctor had no concern with any of the (four!!) rashes and they will all clear up on their own. The bummer is there is nothing we can do to prevent them from coming back, and if they do come back, there is nothing we can do to help clear them up any faster. So that's awesome.

I took advantage of the fact that we had to go to Seattle for this appointment and made sure we had fun. (Just like I do for Mason's appointments - I think it's more for me than it is for them, but it takes some of the stress off). Andrew loved being in "Seattle downtown" and was pointing out different things during the whole drive. He even chose to leave his Legos in the car because he wanted to be able to look around. It shocked me - it made him feel very grown up.

Once we found the doctor's office, we parked and walked to a fun bagel place for lunch.

This is the expression he makes when he's really having fun and being goofy. I'm so glad this was his mood after his 4th or 5th appointment regarding these stupid rashes!!