Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Eve tradition: New jammies!!!

Merry Christmas 2011

Grace Ann - 1st Grade

Advent

Last year I spent a lot of time making these advent calendars for the kids. Looks like I am going to need to make one more too...

I fill them with all sorts of things...and actually start collecting things months before Christmas. Each day they open a bag. It's a highlight for the kids. I love it too!

I made about 75 drawstring bags then used freezer paper as a stencil for the the numbers. I LOVE how they turned out! I have them hung with some wooden handled jump ropes!

2 days down and 20 more to go! Hopefully Brady doesn't peek in too many bags between now and then...I've already caught him trying a couple of times!

Cruise to the North Pole

While the Christiansen clan was here for the Holiday weekend we decided to venture a couple hours slightly northeast to a little town called Coeur d'alene. There is a great resort situated right on Lake Coeur d'alene with the world's largest floating boardwalk...among other things.

We heard about a cruise that takes you to the North Pole, so we bought tickets and bundled up for the 40 minute tour. We cruised around the boardwalk, then all the way across the lake to where Santa was. He read off the "nice" list and sure enough...all the kids' names were on there!

On the way home the kids wrote letters to Santa. They turned out SOOOOO cute. I couldn't bring myself to turn them in to his elves on the ship though. I am saving them!

Grace & Rudolph!
Brady & Rudolph! (Sophie was a little too nervous to pose with Rudolph)






Santa and one of his elves reading the names off. We all stood out on the bow of the boat while we got close to the "North Pole." The kids really liked it!
There is something like a million or so lights all around the boardwalk and the other side of the lake...these are just a few of them. It was fun!

Here are some pics of the kids writing their letters. They concentrated so hard. Soph needed a little help, but not Grace. She knew what she wanted!



Hope everyone has a great Holiday Season!

WE have a 7 year old!

Grace turned 7 over the weekend, so we had a little party for her while her cousins were here. She chose chocolate cupcakes with hershey's kisses in the middle (which were delicious) and we sang to her and opened presents.

She asked for some chapter books she could read by herself. So I chose the first 4 books in the Magic Treehouse series. She is doing great reading them. I love to hear her read out loud!
Brady picked out a lego star wars ship for her...he and Sophie were WAY more excited to put it together than Grace. Sophie was trying to sneak it away and open it by herself more than once. (As you can tell Sophie is even in the picture)
Sophie picked out Connect 4. It's a little intense for them, but they are getting it. They love to watch the chips all fall out the bottom.
CUTE kids! Happy Birthday Grace!

(PS Thanks go to Grandma Beach for the little kids picnic table...it has been used for so many things....it's PERFECT!)

Here is a short video of Grace reading her Birthday Card from G&G Clegg. We saved the card for her and opened it that night...so this is of her reading it for the first time. She is getting to be a great little reader! (And thanks Grandma Annie for the non-cursive writing!!!)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year for our family was full of things to be thankful for...mostly to Hillary and Rob for making the trek from SLC to spend the weekend here with us. It was so great to have family to spend the day with!

The kids had a blast being together. They played football, soccer, LEGOS (actually this was the activity of choice for the weekend...it was a HUGE distraction for them!), and they put on a music concert for us! It was so much fun!

Here is the kids table for dinner. I made rainbow jell-o cups for the kids and that was a HUGE hit...a way bigger hit than the turkey that's for sure.
Here is the spread. Mashed potatoes, gravy, bacon-wrapped green beans, wild rice, rolls, turkey, artichoke heart stuffing, spinach salad and the turkey of course! It was delicious. We had sparkling cider to top it off and then finished the day with pumpkin and chocolate cream pies. DELICIOUS!

I hate black friday shopping, but for some reason Garrett was all about going this year. So we put the kids to bed and Hillary and Rob hung out at the house while we ventured to WALMART for some deals. People are CRAZY. But we got some great stuff and were back home in bed before 11.

It was a great day!
Cute Cam!

LOVE SNOW!

This is the view from the back door of our house. We have a decent sized hill back there! Two weekends ago we had about 6 inches of snow and the kids were outside until dark three days in a row! They couldn't get enough of it! It was actually perfect. I didn't have to get all bundled up to take them sledding...I just sent them to the back yard. PERFECT!!!

Brady was hilarious...he couldn't see around the sled..he just guessed where he was headed while he marched up the hill.
Can't wait for more snow! And Uncle Zach was here this weekend too and the kids LOVED having him out there with them! Thanks for coming Uncle!

Our Home in Pullman

Here is our home! We are only renting right now while we make a decision on buying. But it's great! Garrett is putting up Christmas lights!