Christmas time

I haven't posted an update since Dec. 12th, but had a good excuse. Mike came home on Dec. 17th from Afghanistan and it has been the best (early) Christmas present for Millie and I!

We had the house and the tree all decorated before his arrival home.

Before we knew it, Christmas Eve was here! We decided to open some of our presents that night. Millie got lots of gifts from Oma and Opa, and Grandpa and Nana. Mike's parents (Grandpa and Lola) we here to spend the holiday with us too and so Millie was one lucky girl! Thank you all for some great gifts.




We gave Millie a Playmobil doll house and it came in this box all jumbled together.

I think Grandpa had the most fun assembling all the pieces together and about 3 hours later, it looked like this....


Then off to bed and hoping that Santa arrives during the night to eat his cookies and maybe leave some more presents for Christmas morning...

And, of course he came and we opened gifts and stockings.

Later that evening, we had a delicious dinner of goose with the family and our neighbor! Lola even bought us x-mas crackers and we had lots of fun pulling them apart, finding little trinkets inside and wearing the paper crowns.

We drove up to Snoqualmie Pass later in the week to go sledding but got some snow on Wednesday here in town! (It was so cold up there and Millie wound up with wet boots, so by the time I snapped this photo, we were ready for a warm drink and a heater!) Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Getting ready for Christmas

Well, in between making some of our Christmas cards,

visiting with Santa,

and other various Christmas animals,

heading out to the tree farm in North Bend and...

finding another great x-mas tree, it has been one fun and busy start to the season. But now we have slowed down, there are only 3 days left of school, and then we can spend our days doing some fun crafts I have planned, baking Christmas cookies, figuring out which Christmas show we are watching that evening and then on Saturday we get to pick up Mike! Yeah!!!

My beautiful ballerina

Millie's first ballet recital was on Friday nite at the Si View Center in North Bend. She was so excited, was not nervous at all, and most important, she had fun!

So proud of her!

Christmas tree lighting

Here we are at the Christmas tree lighting in Snoqualmie. The lights only stayed on for a few minutes on and off, so glad we got a picture. I'll be posting some ballerina dance photos soon!

Another snow day....

So it snowed last night again and we woke up to a beautiful day. School, libraries, etc were closed, so we rushed outside right after breakfast to play. Look Mike, we got a dog!

So quiet and peaceful. No snow plows out here...

Chateau Coombes

Millie enjoying a sleigh ride with neighborhood friends!


I am definitely in the Christmas mood this year after our early season snowfall. It is only supposed to reach a high of 13 tonight. Brrrrr. Enjoying every moment, cuz I heard we can except rain on Thanksgiving which sounds very sad and dreary.

Gorgeous day and very cold, 23 F.

Snow Day!

We were so excited when it started snowing on Sunday. When we woke up Monday, pre-school was canceled and the snow continued to fall on and off all day long! So much fun!



Now if only we had a few hills in town for sledding...maybe we'll head up to the ridge if the snow stays for a while. It is supposed to only be a high of 26 tomorrow (Tuesday)!

Piglets at the farm

Millie and I love getting to visit Fox Hollow Farm. Every once in a while, they are open to the public and we head on over to Issaquah to check out all the cute animals and play in the front lawn which usually has toy trucks to ride and bouncy balls. This time they had 5 day old piglets.

They were so cute!

Millie also loved the baby Maine Coon cats.


She got to pet some horses....

and even play with this little creature...a minature horse, maybe??

Then back home to get smoked out by the neighbors chimney....

Halloween was fun!

Millie helping me carve our pumpkins into jack o lanterns. We saved the seeds for roasting and I was so happy to find that Millie loves them and gobbles them up like a little squirrel.

Getting ready for the big night of trick or treating with our fellow dragon, Minnie mouse and princess friends. It was so warm on Halloween day. So glad we did not have to dress in layers. Beautiful sun all day long!

I wish this was my front porch. What Halloween spirit in the neighborhood. Next year we will go crazy!

Learning to swim!

Here is Millie at her Monday afternoon swim class. Today she was learning how to swim on her back.

...Then putting her face in the water.

Off she goes!

Sneak Peek at Halloween

Millie got all dressed up in her cowgirl outfit yesterday. They had a Harvest Carnival at Mt Si in North Bend and we headed over there to play some games and visit the spooky Haunted House!

Basketball hoop game!

Minature golf.

Arts and crafts room

It was our last "beautiful" day of weather. And of course, we love the way Mt. Si looks on a good day of weather. We are in for a long week of constant rain! Yuck. But hopefully it will dry out for Halloween trick or treating.


I love how adorable Millie looked in her braids!