Getting into the Holiday Spirit

Can you feel the Christmas spirit creeping into your home?  The girls have been asking to put up the tree and decorations for weeks now, and we kept putting it off, well, it finally happened.

The Christmas magic started with snow.  We woke up to a very frosty and cold Saturday morning.  With everything under a white blanket of snow, the girls couldn't wait to dive into the fun.  Last year, Mya was not a big a fan of snow.  This year, she watched her sisters playing in it, and realized it was pretty fun after all.

Layla ready for snow

Adelyn liked shovelling the deck

Snow isn't so bad

Time for hot chocolate and cookies!

Len finished hanging up our lights. And the tree decorating started, the girls are pretty good at spreading out the decorations on the tree.  The only drooping branch was the one Mya piled her decorations on.

Trimming the tree

See . . . 

Ta-dah!

A Silly Shot

Then we took some holiday pictures as we got into the spirit.

Calm . . . then . . . 

Deen-Oh-Saurrrrrrrrrrrrr ! ! !

We look forward to a fun and festive holiday season.  Next stop . . . Santa.

Seaside

Over the long weekend, we celebrated Uncle Brian's birthday.

Happy Burd-Day, Kow Foo

Finished her cake, and more!

Then we took a small trip to Seaside for two nights.  It was a long road trip down. We broke it up with a stop at the Pike Market in Seattle, and an outlet stop before heading into Seaside.

Admiring the Gummy Pig at the Market

We liked the name, Three Girls Bakery

Checking out Beecher's cheese factory, and picked up some lunch

a HUGE Honest cheese biscuit

 We enjoyed dinner at the Twisted Fish, and hung out at the back of the hotel before settling in.

Warm cookies at the bon fire at the River Inn

Mya and Daddy

The next morning, we played on the beach and went to the Seaside Aquarium.  The seals were the highlight of the trip, they were hilarious. Len had so much fun feeding them.  They went crazy slapping and clapping for his attention.

Hello Friend !

Looking for more food

touch tank time

Sea cucumber

Holy Octopus !

Yay, Seaside ! 

checking out the ocean waves

Loves the swings

Mmmmm . . . raspberry soda

Carousal time

Ice cream at the Seaside Candyman

We ended the trip with some shopping, and a fun evening at the indoor pool and hot tub.

A big bear hug

Pool Time

Adelyn with a bubble beard 

The next morning, my camera died.  After breakfast, we went to visit the beach one last time, before heading home.  We stopped briefly along the way, and ended home around 9 pm.  Despite the long trek, the girls said, "We want to go back!"

My Halloweenies

This year's Halloween festivities started off with a trip to the pumpkin patch with Adelyn's Kindergarten class.  It was drizzling and wet that day, and Len was able to join us before heading off to work.  Here are the pictures of that day.

Addy's class picture

Checking out the animals in the barn

Yahoo!

A tractor ride in the rain

Someone liked the corn maze

Family pic at the patch

Since Halloween was on a Friday, our pumpkin carving started on a Tuesday evening after dinner.  Then carried over to Wednesday, when we carved the detail into all the pumpkins.  Layla and Adelyn were not afraid to put their hands in and get them dirty.   They even helped out with the carving!  They turned out excellent!

Concentration and precision

Layla was pretty good at carving

Super excited about the little pumpkin

Adelyn's design

Hard at work

Mya sneaking a peek of Jeh Jeh

Tah Dah !

This year, the girls were Elsa.  They had a school costume parade in the gym, and individual Halloween parties with their class.  It was great to see everyone decked out in their costumes.  

Elsa 

Elsa's twin

After school, the fun continued, they went mall trick-or-treating before dinner, while Mya napped.  After an early dinner, the girls set off, and went around the homes in the neighbourhood.  Mya went for a little while, but she was scared of the fireworks that were going off, so she went home half way.

Elsa twins together

Mya my butterfly

A new experience for Mya

Checking out the haul

The next morning, checking out the candy without her sisters around

"Was that?" to every piece 

What a fun filled Halloween full of costumes, candy, candy, and more candy . . . Let me know if you want some :D