Christmas Eve

Jordan had to work so he met us at church but here we are all dressed up and ready to go to Christmas eve service.

Harry Potter exhibit

Over Thanksgiving we tried to go to the Harry Potter exhibit and they were sold out for the day we were there. We didn't realize it was so popular you needed to buy it almost a month in advance. So we went home and bought the tickets over Thanksgiving for Christmas break. Regan has been dying to go ever since then. When I told her let's get going she came down in her Harry Potter costume all READY for the day! Look at this excited smile!

The exhibit was at the Pacific Science Center which is a children's museum. So we took advantage of all of the fun activities they have there.

We couldn't take any pictures inside the Harry Potter exhibit but here is one we took in front of the sign out front. Both girls thought it was pretty awesome seeing all of the costumes and props from the film.

Class parties at school

Daddy and I got to help at school for Regan's 5th grade Christmas party. We came in and did a fun beading project with them. It was so peaceful and quiet as you can see below it was quite the project that they had to concentrate on.

When each bead was put on this tray we then placed a piece of parchment paper down and ironed the whole thing. The heat makes the beads melt together. The kids really enjoyed it. Christian and I enjoyed getting to meet Regan's classmates.

Going to see Santa

One of the things I love about our little town is they offer really nice things to do for our community. Every year they have a tree lighting ceremony and then Santa comes to visit too. Below you can see Erin doing some of the arts and crafts they had to offer.

We saw the tree lit (I did take a picture but it was too dark for you to see anything) and then it was time to get in line for Santa. Here is Erin in line with her friends who are twin brothers Chas and Eddie. Regan let me know that 11 is too old to be interested in this activity so she sat and read a book while her sister went to visit the big man.

Here is Erin letting Santa know that she wants a DSi. We had a discussion with Santa and after he learned that Erin already owned a DS he agreed that there wasn't a need for a DSi. He said he had something extra special planned for her that he knew she would love. . .

Cone of Shame

I had to laugh when I came out the other morning to find Erin's kitty in the cone of shame. She got a piece of cardboard out of our recycling bin and made this cone of shame for her kitty. 

That girl cracks me up!

Breaking News

Just got a phone call from Regan: 

She won the Geography Bee at her school! 

She gets to go compete at the state level now!

Christmas program 2010

So the church Christmas program for 2010 they decided to turn the lights down low for ambiance ... yeah makes for some not so great pictures. But if you decide to pop on over to Washington I did video tape the entire concert and you can watch it in video if you like! 

Regan was a narrator this year which she was so excited about as this is big treat that is reserved only for 5th graders. Both girls did a lovely job with their parts and singing!

Nutcracker 2010

Last night I took both the girls to go see the Nutcracker ballet. It was a local production. They did a really good job. Regan got to see the Nutcracker when she was about 4 with me and Grandma Meyer in Alaska. But Erin had never gone. Erin kept whispering they aren't saying anything?! Then at intermission she said is it over? When I said no and it started again she said WOW this is great we get to see two shows! Silly girl! 

The picture above only took me about 7 tries to get them to both smile and be nice to each other...ahhh sisters. Below is me saying okay girls say NUTCRACKER. Hmmm maybe cheese is better for smiley faces ;)

Either way it was a beautiful performance!

Gingerbread time

Here are the girls putting together their Gingerbread house. I am not sure why they even bothered to apply the candy to the house. Three days later I noticed their Gingerbread house is BARE. . .

Snow day (s)

 Unlike the last state we lived in Washington rarely gets any snow. So it is definitely something the kids get excited about. Last week we actually were to only have school Mon, Tues, and 1/2 day on Wed. and then Thanksgiving vacation. Well we ended up having school Monday and then came the snow. We sent them to school on Tuesday only to get a call at 10: 00 am that school was being called off. It was REALLY cold too about 6 degrees most days. 

In this area of the country they either very few snow plows if any at all. So pretty much until the snow melts the entire city shuts down. Jordan made it safely home from college and then we were all in for some snow days. 

Here are some pictures of the kids sledding.

Jordan being the good big brother he is took the girls sledding. Does this hill look familiar? It is the infamous cardboard sledding hill from the Milton days celebration. Yep makes a good snow sledding hill too! 

By Sunday the snow had all melted and we are back to our regularly scheduled program.

Soccer season has now ended

Here is Erin getting her award. She was nicknamed FLASH because she was such a fast runner! I think soccer may just be this girl's sport!

Coach Scott, Emily, Tori, Lilly, Erin, Gabby, KK, Kaylie, Brandy

Here is Erin with her team.These girls feel like family because we spent so much time with them over the past couple months. Practice twice a week and at least one game a week. We have already told the coach that when it comes time to sign up for next year to please include Erin in his roster as we want to stay a part of this time with these sweet girls!

Biz Town field trip

Regan's 5th grade class got to go on a field trip to Biz Town. What is Biz Town? Well let me try to give you the Cliff Notes explanation. Boeing bought this building and set up this program for all 5th graders to be able to participate in this program. (I am so happy we live pretty close so that we can participate in it!) For a couple months before the kids go on this field trip they have lessons on how a city runs. What kinds of jobs people need to hold to help run a city.

The also learn about a checking account. What it is and how to use it. Also a savings account. Then on the day of the field trip they get told what position they will hold in the city. Then this group of 5th graders runs a little mini city for the day. This place had everything from Chase bank, water dept, phone company, to UPS and even a TV station which is where I volunteered for the day.

Here is Regan sitting next to her friend Taylor for the opening town meeting to start the day. Regan was the CFO for Pudget Energy (or the electric company). It was one FULL day!

The kids learned a lot about what it takes to run a city and how important it is to stay organized. I can say for my group the kids told me at the end of the day they learned that every job is important and if one person doesn't pull their weight the whole company can suffer. Great lessons!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is one of our traditions in our house. We always put the tree up every year after we eat our Thanksgiving dinner. I hand the kids each their ornaments they they have either made or received as a gift. Every year the kids each get a new ornament to remind us of them that year. Jordan this year got a graduation one. Regan got a guitar and Erin got an angel with her name on it. Don't ask not sure why I picked it, guess cause she is a little angel . . . except when she's not ;) 

What did you do for Veterans day?

We went up to Seattle and took the girls to Rain Forest Cafe. This is super fun restaurant! (a little pricey but fun)

I tried to get Regan to sit up here too because I thought these bar stools were way to funny but she said there is NO way I am sitting at a bar!

We were trying to decide on going to the Seattle aquarium but Erin kept saying she was soooo hungry so we decided on this cafe instead. So glad we did because this restaurant was pretty much an aquarium! There was a thunder storm every 30 minutes and lots of fun things for them to look at.

Regan started guitar lessons

Regan started guitar lessons about two weeks ago. She didn't know I took this picture...

She seems to be enjoying herself and her teacher is super nice!

Happy Halloween 2010

Here are the girls all dressed up and ready to go Trick or Treating or should I say Trunk or Treating at our church. Regan was a cowgirl and Erin was Princess Ariel (The Little Mermaid).

I love that our church always throws a great Halloween bash. Such fun events such as Trunk or Treating out of the back of people's cars. Then they also rent inflatable jumpy things for the kids. The older youth all set up games for the kids to play to earn candy such as Plinko, Fishing for candy, and a cake walk.

The last couple years one of our members has provided a hay ride as well. Which is really just a ride around the parking lot on hay but that counts right? At any rate they loved it all! 

Happy Halloween hope your night was as fun as ours!

Carving the pumpkins

Oh this is hard letting go and letting your kids have at their pumpkins with a carving knife! We let Regan do her own with a bit of help from daddy but Erin gets to draw her design on and mommy did the cutting part for her. They get to have the oh so much fun of digging out the pumpkin guts ewwww!