Trip to Washington (6 of 7)

We went to Washington for Christmas this year. It was a ton of fun. I always make the kids mini coloring books to take on out trips. Brandon in this case decided to make a "tool belt" out of the crayons and his seat belt. It was so funny. So, of course, Cody had to have his picture taken too.

On of the funny things that happened on this trip, the boys got into a lot of trouble one night when they were supposed to be sleeping. But they were stupid enough to document it all with the camera.

Mom: "Brandon, did you get into my purse?"

Brandon: "No Mom! Cody did it!"

Mom: "Oh really..."

Cody: "I was in bed sleeping. Brandon did it..."

Cody: "I didn't touch anything..."

On the drive home we saw some Tundra. I know it seems impossible, but that is what it looked like everywhere. It was beautiful.

Happy Birthday Mom (7 of 7)

My mom's best friend Kep threw her a wonderful birthday for her 50th birthday. Kep always decorates her house so wonderfully for Christmas.

Christmas Parties

The kids had Christmas parties at school today. Here is Cody enjoying a cookie and hot cocoa. Brandon was so excited that he got to wear pajamas to school for their "Polar Express" party.

Brandon insisted on giving his teacher 2 apples and 2 bananas. After a little persuading I talked him into adding cookies and popcorn. Luckily he is smarter than I am because all the kids gave her goodies. I am sure she will appreciate something healthy with all of that.

Here are the kids at Kathleen's class party:

The kids and their Hot Cocoa! Mmmm. Brandon displaying some of his Thanksgiving artwork (a little late).

And Kathleen:

Kathleen is posing with Ernie, it is an award that gets passed around at all the "team building" activities at Ryan's work. There is always a competition of some kind and a group will win the trophy.

Ryan's work party (Brandon won the Wii competition for the kids):

On Saturday it snowed ALL day long. It started during the night and continued until Sunday. I don't remember every having that much snow time in one day here. It didn't dump a lot of snow, but it just kept coming and coming. The kids decided to take a picture with their Santa hats in front of the window while it snowed.

We decided to go sledding.

We had a major wipe-out after trying to stand up on the sled and go down together.

Our church had a fun Christmas party. The primary kids sang and rang bells.

Then they waited in line over an hour to see Santa. The worst part was they were at the beginning of the line, but everyone kept cutting, so they never moved.

Cody was so excited to ask for a "Little Einsteins" computer.

Okay, I take it back. The worst part was that Cody waited in line so long that he peed his pants and couldn't sit on Santa's lap. But he did get a big hug. And he wasn't shy at all. And even stood there staring at Santa as everyone else went.

I guess since Cody couldn't sit on Santa's lap, the other kids decided not to either.

Cody ran outside and said something about frogs. I asked him if he liked frogs and he said yes. Then he said frogs made it froggy. Then I started to catch on to what he was saying. We had a TON of fog yesterday. This picture isn't the best example. At one point, we couldn't even see that pool house.

And on a side note (and by side, I mean the most important note), today is Ryan and my 10th Anniversary! That is right. We have been married for 10 years today. Can you believe it has been that long? And I love him more today that I ever have. He is so great and a perfect husband and father. I am looking forward to seeing how much better the next 10 will be.