Santa!

We headed to the island to see Santa! 

We got our letters all written:

 

(translation = Q would like surprises and legos shock! and H a fairy toy and brown haired doll)

On the boat I talked the kids into posing for me in their Santa outfits from Gigi:

 Then at the cottage we met up with some Anna's and kiddos! We had fun visiting while waiting our turn, having hot cocoa, cuddling baby Vivian, and chatting about the big guy!

 

And here was the big moment!

St. Nicholas Day

Here are the kiddos with our good pal Emri getting ready for St. Nicholas day!

You know just polishing up the muddy bogs...

 And then opening those boots on the 6th after he arrived!

St. Nicholas is so thoughtful, he brings socks along with treats a little toy!

We also got in the spirit with Emri doing some baking:

We love our Wednesday Emri time, and she and I love to do cooking together!

Winter Concert

Quin was in his first MW winter concert! 

Unfortunately it also fell on the first day in forever that both kiddos woke up WAY TOO EARLY! Really?! So, they were wiped out, and the show was unintentionally later this year.

 Q is the yawning one in front of Ms. P. ;)

 It was a lovely show though and we really enjoyed this talented group of singers!

I think Q and his classmates enjoyed their songs with props the most! They all did a wonderful job!

Reindeer Time

I took H and our pal to see the reindeer at Swanson's and we met up with more pals while there! We got there in time to feed the camel Curly, and the reindeer too.

 We played on the sleighs,

 then we said hi to the fish, had some cookies in the cafe, and saw the train display,

 We rounded out our time with a goodbye to the camel and reindeer, and some more silly play on the sleighs!

It certainly is fun to celebrate the season with friends!

Waldorf Winter Faire

Hazel and I went to the Holiday Faire at the Seattle Waldorf School today. This will definitely be my favorite new holiday tradition, it was delightful! *Please don't look too closely Gparents this was a wonderful gift making opportunity. And we even got to be there with pals towards the end of it,

 I just wish we could go again next week!

Ornaments of the Year

This year was a bumper crop for ornaments! Truthfully though the last few years have been... While certainly some will not likely stand the test of time, it's a joy to have so many handcrafted creations adorning our tree, 7 of these were by H this year! I wanted to remember all the new ones so when we packed them up today, I snapped a pic:

Friendsgiving

 The Olive's hosted yet another wonderful Friendsgiving for us all this year. It was so fun in fact that Q wrote about it in his schoolwork on Monday, "I wint to frensgiving and we had los of shrcee (turkey) on are plate!" 

There was so much fun with friends before we ate (and sharing of tattoos, and getting stuck in the mud...)

There was oh SO much baby holding, with 3 little girls to cuddle! 

There was all of Anna's tasty food, and some funny you yube dance party action to Gangnam Style.  

Thank you Olive's for hosting, and for the wonderful tradition! We love it!