December

I know some of you may think we've fallen off the face of the earth, but such is not the case.  We were really busy during the time of Matt's ordination and I got a little behind with blogging and then became quite intimidated with trying to catch up. We've actually been really busy the last few months:  company, activities at church, our family adventure Mondays, playdates, continuing to get the house in order from our move, getting to know more and more people, spending Thanksgiving day with church friends and then having dear friends visit for the weekend have taken up a chunk of our time.  Anna continues to love school and her friends at school and church.  Matt continues to love his work and the challenges and blessings it brings.  I continue to try to keep the house in working order, keep track of schedules, and go to our Moms group at church. Now that you're caught up with all that, we'll move on to December.  In order to keep a certain little 4 year old occupied in her spare time, I made a little Christmas countdown of activities we could do this month.  Our house decorating was done over a period of time rather than all at once, which worked out quite well.  We included several crafts and movie nights to get everything in and occupy all the days of this month. Here are a few highlights.
 
Anna really enjoyed doing some Christmas crafts this month.  She's working on her gumdrop tree.  She was quite proud of the final product and set it in the Christmas village.

Our friends invited us out to a park in Kirkland one Saturday night.  There was a really big bonfire (courtesy of our friend--who works for the parks department).  We got to see the boats all decorated and listen for a little while to the concert they were playing.  They ended with the Hallelujah Chorus!

Friends from church invited us over to decorate sugar cookies.  It was a lot of fun (and then I didn't have to do that at home).

We decorated the tree a few days after we actually bought it.  Anna was super excited to put the angel on the top of the tree. 

We're still learning how to dress for the Pacific Northwest weather.  This is how Anna chose to go out one night.  Love the mittens, rain boots, umbrella, and sunglasses!

This was taken at our local botanical gardens.  They have a pretty nice light display this month!

Anna the red-nosed....

We were pretty proud of Anna and the other kids from church during their Christmas program.

Snoqualmie Falls after our big, wet, rainy weekend--spectacular!

Anna and her classmates had a little singing program at school.

We love the weather here!! Really--some days it rains and some days you get this!!  Sunshine, blue skies, and beautiful scenery!!

Our trip to the Nutcracker Ballet was a huge highlight this month!  We loved getting all dressed up, hearing the music,and seeing all the dancers!  Anna's favorite scenes were of the fight between the nutcracker and the mice!

We walked around the Seattle Center (near the theater where we saw the ballet) for a bit before we headed home.

Aunt JoJo and Uncle David made a stop here on their way to Portland.  Anna enjoyed their company--especially because she got to open a few gifts while they were visiting.

We visited the aquarium with them.  Anna decided she wanted to be a diver when she grows up. 

Of course, we had to take them to Top Pot for a donut while they were here!

Another craft and baking with Daddy help fill our time this month. 

Merry Christmas!