Annual PEPS Christmas Party

We had our 6th annual PEPS Christmas party, I wish I'd remembered to take a group shot, well of the kids looking at me anyway. But we were busy eating, decorating graham cracker houses, playing, listening to Christmas music, chatting, doing the gingerbread man book exchange game, you know general holiday merriment sort of fun.

After the party Q and H used the craft table to set up a fort and we had a lazy afternoon at home.

That craft table would then make a great elf workshop zone for weeks to come...

December Family Art

Tree Hunt 2011

We spent the night on Vashon and after a bit of a lazy morn with Nami and Danpa, we headed out to pick out our Christmas tree on the way home. We stopped first at a spot my family used to frequent, but couldn't find the right fella, so we headed to the next spot and found a lovely one! I think it's a blue spruce, and it might not be perfect, but it's probably the biggest tree we've ever had, and displays our ornaments in all their glory. ;)

The kids looked pretty cute in their new Christmas jammies (thanks Nami!) in front of the tree, though it was a trick to get them to stop playing around they were so excited.

 

Tis the season for snuggles!

Visitng Santa and Open House Eve

We arrived on Vashon in the afternoon in time to visit Santa. The kids gave him their letters and sat on his knee to chat with him/be their nervous selves about the whole situation, and then we tried to get them to smile. The photographer may have gotten H to smile, but by the time I took pics she was like this:

 

I'm pretty sure Todd and I had smiles on our faces laughing at her. She was just so slouchy and smirky, which I guess was her way of being nervous this year, cause she really was!

Both kids were actually pretty quiet, but they were happy to get candy canes!

After Santa we went and browsed at the Pharmacy, and then had an early dinner at Casa Bonita with the Sander family. Then we joined the parade with Santa's sleigh on through town to the tree lighting. It was a Vashon style tree lighting, complete with "Oh Christmas Tree" singing and technical difficulties. Eventually the tree was light, oh joy! and we wandered through town a bit to see some of the shops, eat cookies, craft an ornament at the Pharmacy, and check out the first annual gingerbread house contest:

What a festive, fun night!

Beach Time at Fort Worden

We had a fun time on the beach at Fort Worden. The kids were exploring, balancing, rock collecting, seal watching, "horsie" riding, having a shoulder ride, and doing a lot of star wars play with "lightsabers" and "lazer blasters" (aka sticks):

Secret Mini Vacation!

As a fun surprise for the kids we went to Port Townsend overnight (Papa had a little conference in PT he wanted to be at) and the kids were thrilled to head out on this secret adventure. Heck, they were happy just to be on the ferry:

Fun times fake playing the car racing games, running around the deck, and pointing out where we were headed on the map

Once we got to town, we got ourselves a room, at a cheap motel that fit the bill perfectly for them = 2 beds to jump across, a TV to watch cartoons on, and even a balcony looking right out on the water.  Then we went to a crepe shop to have a little afternoon snack, yum. Then across the street to a toy shop where we browsed and Mama bought something she never intended: 2 of those guns that spark when you "shoot" them. Sorry, I know Bad Mom, but I couldn't resist knowing we were going to head to the dark fort and they would be so cool in there (which they TOTALLY were). Q was absolutely being so cute, by this point he'd already thoughtfully thanked me 3 or 4 times for each little treat I was giving them. Port Townsend is so festive this time of year with all the little shop windows all decked out with lights and decor, so it was fun to wander a bit with the kids. But then we had to hit the fort I couldn't stop telling them about. So, they loaded up their blasters and hit the fort!

So, there were some teenage boys in there making creepy noises as went went into the darkened passageways, totally freaked the kids out, and honestly me too! It completely brought back the days we'd go there at night with the whole post Thanksgiving soccer gang that we'd stay with at Fort Worden. I'm a pretty big wimp, but really this made it more fun for the kids. It's good to be scared sometimes so you can have someone to imagine you are battling (plus we saw them walk away later, so we knew they weren't really scary bad guys). To finish off the fun afternoon we played at the beach, picked up Papa from his meeting, where we stopped in to meet people he works with, and then headed out to have a little dinner together before heading back to the motel to bounce and watch cartoons! Papa got to head back to his event though to listen to this hilarious guy give a great talk. Milton Love is a wonderful and funny guy (I got to chat with him a bit) and his jokes about hagfish, spiny lumpsuckers and such are pretty awesome! He made my cutie's night, so I was thankful we got to be there!

Dear Santa

Advent season has begun, the kids could hardly go to sleep last night they were so excited about opening up the advent calendars in the morn!

First up for the advent activity calendar, write a letter to Santa. Here is Hazel's:

She spotted a baby doll with purple clothes recently and really wanted one like it. 

And Quin wrote his own this year for the first time, well copying the words from what he dictated to me:

He was so thoughtful to include a wish for his Papa as well, both of them are wishing for Star Wars lego sets, what a shocker!