Month: December 2013

Winter Wonderland

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Another round of low temps at night (in the high teens) allowed for another morning filled with frost covered everything. This morning the frost was very heavy and the lawn at their preschool looked like it had a light layer of snow on it. It was beautiful. It looked like a beautiful winter wonderland.

The Mini Tree

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This year Shaun thought it would be fun for the girls to have their own little tree to decorate and enjoy. We have a big window seat and window on the landing heading upstairs that is perfect for such things. It looks right out onto the street and sits above our front door which means everyone can see something that is displayed in it.
So we headed out to Target, found a little artificial tree and let the girls pick out some ornaments and decorations for it. It was a very exciting even for them and I could tell that they couldn’t wait to decorate the tree. I love that Shaun thinks of these things for them. Such an amazing daddy!

Prepping the ornaments to put them on the tree.
Ellie is excited to decorate the tree, can you tell?!
Its a tree just their size with their very own ornaments.
Abby the elf putting the pink ornaments that she picked out on her own onto the tree.
Taking a good look at their hand work and decorating skills.
All lit up and ready for Christmas!

A Fireplace For Christmas

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Growing up I was always blessed to have a fireplace in my home, which meant a beautifully decorated mantel at Christmas time. After Shaun and I were married our home in Seattle had a fireplace but we never had the chance to use it for the one Christmas that we lived in the house. Since then our homes have been fireplace free and that meant finding creative places for our stockings and mantel decorations. Until now.
This year we have a fireplace and I think that one detail makes me more excited than anything else about Christmas. I was beyond eager to pull out the decorations and get the mantel decorated. I think I did a pretty decent job this year. It sure looks beautiful, at least to me! Christmas is in the air!

Thanksgiving Weekend

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope your turkey day and thanksgiving weekend was a relaxing and joyful one. I hope that you had the chance to spend time with loved ones.
Our Turkey Day weekend was a nice and relaxing one. Grandma Zoe came out to visit from Spokane and we cooked a small but very tasty turkey dinner. Because it was such a small crowd, we decided this year to cook a turkey breast instead of a whole turkey. I love left overs but even a 10 pound turkey leaves more than we cant get rid of in a weeks time.
The bird before its long nap in the oven. 
The process of homemade pumpkin pie, including crust made from scratch.Turned out amazing.
Our amazing turkey day dinner of Turkey breast, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy and saute’d carrots. Yummy!
The day after Thanksgiving we took it easy. Shaun had to go into work for a a half day and when he came home we went out and did a little Black Friday shopping with Grandma. The deals this year were OK, but nothing worth going out at 10pm on Thanksgiving day for. In all honesty there isn’t a deal good enough to make people work on Thanksgiving for. It was a pretty low key day and that was fine. I think we were still suffering from a turkey coma.
The next day we got moving, had breakfast at our favorite cafe and then headed out for a ferry ride over to Kingston and Port Gamble. It was a bit of a dreary day but that didn’t stop us! It was nice to get out of the house, move around and enjoy the outdoors. Our biggest hope was that Port Gamble would be decorated with Christmas lights and more!
Its a bit chilly out but we are loving the ferry ride.
My beautiful girl… Ellie was asleep with Grandma Zoe in the car.

State Champion Camperdown Elm. This tree has been in this spot since 1875. Just read the sign below!
This tree looks very different during the spring and summer, but its almost ghostly appearance without its leaves made us stop and take a look.
Our favorite general store all decorated for the holidays.
Pretty! Can I take it all home to decorate with??!
I love these ornaments and I would love to take them all home for my tree!
Ellie felt like such a big girl with her cup of hot chocolate. Have I mentioned that its some of the best hot chocolate that I have ever had?
The Port Gamble General Store is getting ready for Christmas!
The bistro in one of the historic homes is all ready for Christmas. So pretty!
Love this little town. We discovered Port Gamble on a late night drive when we lived in Seattle before the girls were born. It was Christmas time and the whole town was lit up at night. Glad we get to share this with our kids.

After our stop and fun in Port Gamble, we made our way to Bainbridge to take the ferry into Seattle. We wanted a more close up view of the Space Needle. At Christmas time the Space Needle gets a little something extra to celebrate the season and who can pass up a picture to celebrate our first holiday season here in Seattle! So cute and festive if you ask me.

Even the Space Needle gets into the Christmas Spirit.

Today was the final day of our Thanksgiving weekend and it was spent at home relaxing. Shaun and I did some grocery shopping while the girls hung out with Grandma Zoe and then I used some of the leftover turkey to make my moms famous Turkey Tetrazzini. It turned out amazing and was the perfect end to a fun weekend. Now its back to school, work and reality tomorrow. It certainly was fun while it lasted!