Christmas in the city

One of the things I miss about living in Portland is the way it feels this time of year. There is just such a buzz of excitement in the air, and so many neat holiday sights to take in. For the past few years we have made it a tradition to take the kids downtown sometime during the week before Christmas. We started out by taking the kids out to lunch at one of our favorite "dive" hamburger places Bonnie Burger in NW Portland. Then it was off to Finnegan's for a little toy shopping and playing. I think this about the best toy store on earth, so many things out for kids to look at and play with. The kids had already gotten some Christmas money in the mail, so everyone left with an exciting purchase. A stomp rocket for Fuller, a huge dinosaur floor puzzle for Rowan and an old fashioned pop gun and crazy slinky glasses for Grayson. Leaving Finnegan's with all their loot!

Then we headed down to Pioneer Square to see the big Christmas tree.


































Another part of our tradition is going to the Starbucks right there at Pioneer Square to get everyone a hot chocolate, but this year we lucked out and Starbucks employees were out in the square passing out free peppermint hot chocolates. YUMMY!














We made a final stop at Macy's to check out their Christmas village, and since there was no line we said hi to Santa again. Paul was able to get a quick snapshot of the kids with Santa this time.

Free at last, free at last!

Today marks the first official day of Christmas vacation, and also our release from quarantine! This morning marked a full 24 hours since anyone threw up, had diarrhea or complained of any sickness of any kind. I was beginning to get more than a little stir crazy, and all of us were really cranky. To celebrate our new found health and freedom to leave the immediate vicinity of a bathroom, we headed into Portland for the day. We visited with my parents and had lunch at their house. Then we ventured to the mall for some last minute shopping and a quick chat with the man in red. Rowan went up to Santa first and was just grinning from ear to ear. Their conversation went something like this:
Santa: So, how old are you now?
Rowan: (giggle) Four
Santa: So, are you married yet?
Rowan: (dead silence)
You gotta love a Santa with a sense of humor.
Unfortunately the grinchy people at the mall wouldn't let me take a picture of the kids with Santa with my own camera, but it was a cute moment nonetheless. Grayson asked for a Wii and Fuller for a PSP.

This past week may have been pretty miserable, but there were a couple of funny moments. Like Grayson building forts and then falling asleep in them.

Also, one afternoon I was laying down trying to catch up on some rest. Grayson came and asked if he could make waffles for he and Rowan in the toaster. I said sure that's fine. I listened and heard him get them out of the freezer and put them in the toaster. Then when they popped up I heard Grayson open up the refrigerator and say "Rowan do you want regular syrup or chocolate syrup?" Before he even could form words I could hear Rowan's feet dancing around the kitchen in excitement. I had to laugh about that one, then of course I had to be the mean mom and say no to the chocolate syrup option.

Four down, one to go

We've had a stomach bug making it's way through our house this week. I'm so thankful that we have three bathrooms, we've sure needed them! Rowan had it first and the easiest. He threw up Friday after dinner, slept through the night and was fine the next morning. Grayson was tired and had no appetite Saturday morning, but wasn't "actively" sick until the afternoon. My fun started late Sunday night, and I was still feeling icky when Fuller got home from school yesterday and announced that he felt sick. Yuck! Paul claims he isn't worried about getting it, because he never gets sick and he eats a lot of yogurt. I don't hold out much hope for him, it seems pretty catching.

Gingerbread houses

A recipe for fun! Today Paul's sister and her three girls came to visit and to make ginger bread houses. The kids made wonderful, sticky masterpieces, and had some great cousin time in the process.
Unfortunately the kids couldn't wait to decorate, so the houses hadn't quite firmed up. This meant the grown-ups had to do some major roof repairs!



I think this might be the only picture of Grayson from the day. He wasn't feeling too good today, and ended up not decorating his house. Poor guy started running a fever and got sick shortly after this.

Lakota is a wonderful house decorator!

Rowan and Cozzette had a blast eating candy and frosting!















Holland got very artistic with her house, especially on the roof.



Rowan ate more candy than he put on his house.
Paul became the official roof fixer.


Fuller did a great job, and even managed to not eat too much candy in the process.

The finished products!


We tried to get a decent picture of all the cousins together, but Grayson was asleep. So we got one pretty good one, and one very silly one.






















With the exception of Grayson being sick it was such a wonderful day! I'm glad my kids have cousins that they have so much fun with!

Exhibit A

I'm afraid our Christmas tree isn't going to make it to Christmas. Today while I was making lunch, the living room got very quiet. Then I heard feet running up the stairs. And when I went to see what was going on, this is what I found. Actually there was more damage than you can see in the picture, but you get the idea. I guess Rowan thought the tree needed some evening up. Buster has also done his share of tree destruction. He has nearly perfected the "bump and nudge" technique of knocking ornaments off the tree, and today I caught him putting his mouth around some of the lights. It will be a miracle if this tree is still standing by the 25th. I might take it down myself just for some peace of mind.

This is why it took Paul 4 hours to get home tonight

Our Perfect Tree

On Saturday afternoon we headed out to search for the perfect Christmas tree. We are so fortunate to live in a place where we can be at a tree farm in under 10 minutes, and find a beautiful tree for $20! We searched high and low for a tree we could all agree on. The boys tend to like trees that are either way too big, way too small, or look like shrubs.


Several times Fuller thought he had found the perfect tree.

Rowan kind of thought we should get this one.













At last, we found the perfect tree!

First, Fuller tried to cut it down.

Then Grayson and Rowan each tried.














But in the end Paul had to finish off the job.


The kids loved decorating the tree, and had a really hard time waiting for the lights to get put on.



Rowan kind of liked to find a branch and see how many ornaments it can hold. He hasn't quite figured out the concept of spacing.


























The final result is a perfect Christmas tree. It may not look like the trees you see in magazines or on TV, but it's exactly what we want. It's a tree where angels and snowmen live in peace with dinosaurs, Spongebob, and the two stooges. (It used to be the 3 stooges but last year our "Larry" ornament mysteriously disappeared.) And of course what tree would be complete without at least one Star Wars death star ornament to grace it's branches. Not to brag or anything, but we have two!