Christmas Time fun!

Merry Christmas! We had a beautiful, fun day here in Washington celebrating the holidays. Here are some highlights:

School Events

Lisa got this cute snowman donut from her teachers at school.

 

Lisa had a pajama day at school and watched the Polar Express.
Stanley had hat day at school and had a holiday sing along.

Christmas Eve

It snowed on Christmas Eve!

It was so fun to play in the snow, and then warm up with hot cocoa.

The kids put out cookies and milk for Santa and
carrots for the reindeer.

I love Christmas Eve with the kids! They are so excited.
It's such a magical night!

Christmas Morning

Santa came! Here are Lisa's Santa gifts.

Stanley's Santa gifts

Santa brought Stanley the Star Wars Nerf Gun he's been wanting.

Matt helping Lisa open her new horses.

Lisa loved her gift from Stanley.

New books!

All of Lisa's Christmas gifts--a lot of horses!

Stanley's Christmas gifts

Our annual family Christmas morning picture
(Glory sort of made an appearance this year--
she's laying beside me and Lisa.)

Yummy breakfast--homemade cinnamon rolls, bacon & eggs.

Our Christmas hummingbird--he hung out with us all day.

We had a white Christmas!
It stayed icy and snowy all day.

Preschool Storytime

Lisa has been going to preschool storytime at the library after I pick her up from school. They read stories, practice the ABCs and counting, do show & tell, dance & sing, and chase bubbles!

Singing ABCs

Lisa brought 2 horse toys for show & tell.

A video of Lisa dancing with shakers:

Making Cookies

Lisa & I made some cookies together yesterday. She loved making the dough into balls and rolling them in the sprinkles. But even more...she loved eating them!

finished cookies

So excited to EAT the cookies!

Last Day of Basketball

It was Stanley's last day of basketball today. He's grown a lot of his understanding of the game and being on a team. It was a really fun experience!

Decorating the tree

We decorated our tree this evening! The kids love putting our ornaments on the tree. It's a complete hodgepodge of ornaments, but they all have memories attached to them. Lots of school-made presents from the kids, ornaments from Matt & my childhood, and milestone markers through the years.

Christmas dog

Lisa hanging ornaments

Stan was excited by how high he could reach this year.

Tree decorators

The finished tree!

The Nutcracker

Lisa & I went to see the Nutcracker ballet with our friends, Rebecca & Abby. It was performed by the Northwest Classical Ballet at the Camas High School Theater. Lisa was amazed that they were real people dancing right in front of us! She said, "I can't believe this is really happening!"

Lisa & Abby

Getting ready for the show to start

Happy girls :)

Hometown Holidays

We went to Hometown Holidays, the Camas tree lighting, tonight. In true Camas style, there were fireworks, fake snow, choirs, and best of all, Santa!

Waiting for the tree lighting

Waiting with daddy

Stanley's friends

Fireworks!

The tree!

Chatting with Santa

Close-up with the tree

(fake) SNOW!

"Snowy" Camas

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving home with just the four of us, but it's the first time in a long time that no one  had anything to do or anywhere to be. We just cooked a yummy meal and spent time together as a family. We had turkey (that I won at Bingo), stuffing, Brussels sprouts with pecans & golden raisins, roasted mushrooms, cranberry-apple relish, gravy, mashed potatoes and rolls. We had pumpkin pie and turtle pie for desserts.

After we ate, we were so tired, we watched the movie, Boss Baby, on Netflix. The part I didn't sleep through was really good!

We missed spending time with our families in other parts of the country, and we were thinking of you throughout the day. We hope you had a great holiday and send you lots of love!

Lisa & Stan getting ready to eat!

Stan's favorite is apple-cranberry relish.

Lisa's favorite is turkey.

Ready to dig in! Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Bingo

Stanley and I went to Turkey Bingo with our friends, Sue & Jack. It's the fourth year in a row that we've gone. Stanley has won a prize each year, but this is the first time I won a turkey! I won the very first game of the night!

Stanley & Jack met in pre-K.

Stanley won an emoji splat ball.

Turkey Bingo with friends!

I won a turkey!!

Basketball

Stanley started the Camas Youth Basketball League. He will have 6 weeks of practice & games. Each Saturday he has a 45 minute practice, followed by a 45 minute game. He had so much fun his first day. He can't wait for the next one!