Christmas

The last of the snow pictures. This was on the 22nd - now it is all gone. Future snowman builder. Alternate caption would be 'ubiquitous bouncy seat photo'

Building our snowman
The snowman has rosemary arms and fern hair (plants that we never got around to trimming for the winter)

Christmas eve girls
Christmas morning
Crazy cousins

Crazy snow

I know that for most of the dozen people who read our blog (or look at the photos since there's not a lot of writing), winter is no big deal. But in Seattle, a city with approximately 4 plows and a lot of hills, this much snow is a big deal.

From our yard, looking down the street. Usually when it snows we get a couple inches, which melts by noon.

There's a baby in there - wearing a big snowsuit handed down from her sister.

Eating some snow, after announcing, "You don't eat yellow snow."

From our family room, looking out the window to our neighbors' yards to the west
Looking south out of the family room
We are ready for Christmas, hoping that by Thursday, travel will be possible so that family can arrive.
These stockings are from Chris's childhood. Don't worry, our railing isn't curved. That is the lens.
New and old trout ornaments on our tree. Lindsey had fun with the paint and glitter.

Santa and actual winter weather

Today, Santa was at our neighborhood burger place, so we braved the icy sidewalks and walked to see him. He asked Lindsey what she wanted, and she said "Everything on my list." It's an interesting list, including, but not limited to: a balloon, a watering can, a dolly christmas cup, and a christmas bucket. We're not sure that the elves have all of these things in production this year, but we will see what Santa can come up with.In other news, we are having actual winter weather here in Seattle this year. Since we took this picture on the 14th, we have had even more snow, and are bracing for wind and freezing rain tonight and/or tomorrow. So far we have been unable to make a snowman because the snow is too dry.

A couple of pictures of our Christmas baby, and last, but not least, here is a shot of a "butterfly princess worker."

christmas tree

At the tree farm - guess who picked out this outfit? This tree was "four inches and a half"
It turns out we got a bigger one, it is "this big"

Lots of the ornaments went in the same two-square-foot-or-so area. Elise was nearby, with a smile
And the decorated tree!

Happy Thanksgiving

First, a smile!Lindsey recently rediscovered this amazing hat that she wore when she was a baby.Hunting for pine cones and leaves for our turkey project

Lindsey's turkey

The whole turkey crew - Chris, Sara, Elise, Lindsey, Nana, Papa

before and after - Elise's room

The current nursery was a 12-year old boy's room when we bought the house - maybe that explains the odd Penguin/J.Lo decorating scheme in the first picture. Also note the ceiling tiles, plywood 'cabinet' below the window and stained wood floor. Also because of the odd door configuration, they just gave up and put the bed in front of the door. (We rehung a door to make this area work better.)The same view, with crib and Elise's play quilt from Nana.

This window was painted shut and utilized really ugly translucent glass

At some point, we still need a door for the closet at left. We did replace the vinyl fake wood grain folding door.

Elise's wall quilt and the play table with the chalk side up.

sisters

before and after - Lindsey's room

We have a few photos of the house when it was still occupied by the previous owners. Here is the sunroom, which used to be the computer room and is now Lindsey's room:

Wood paneling up to the picture rail, you probably can't see the vinyl flooring very well

More wood paneling, bizarre crooked frame, paint on all of the hardware, and a dishwasher

New curtains made by Nana and her Labor Day paint jobThis photo is a repeat from an earlier post, but it contrasts nicely with the dishwasher in that location
Kid's eye view.

Three halloween pics