more seattle fun

I promise i'm almost done posting about seattle. it was a busy week. :)

this was our family trip to claim jumper.

yummmmmy.

this is what we affectionately refer to as tom/bon.

and lane/shell... nope, our names just don't work that way. whatevs.

and lunch at Panera. dad really wanted to go there, he just wouldn't let up! ;) as I was showing lex and chris these pictures they commented on how all we did was go out to eat. so jelly, those two.

what can we say, we love technology.

and buck teeth looking babies. :)

the lantern night. 

they were huge. but it was awesome because we could see them forever. seriously, they went sooo high!

red robin night. and laney's doing the chloe again.

ps - because i've dealt with the teen photo dodge so often, I am always ready with a smile for any camera i see. :)



papa is where I get my artsy picture taking skills from.

and see?

always ready.

ok, maybe not always. but when I know there's a camera pointed at me and not a one year old ready to jump a kamikaze mission, then i'm ready.

everyone loves this cool hat that jana made Frankie so many years ago.

we get all sorts of compliments.

papa with the lay-dies.

and evan.

always. ready.

cookie decorating fun.

our pretty snow.

and lastly our first trip to the airport to come home.

one more seattle post and then I think i'm done.

no promises though.

Because papa takes the best pictures

Grumpy face girl. 

Happy face girl. 

Pouty face girl. 

Pouty face, ante upped girl. 

Hurt face girl. 

Adorable face girl. 

(One of my absolute favorites!)

Running face girl. 

Papa chased her around the apartment with his cool camera extender stick, back and forth, back and forth. It was so funny!

Making messes face girl. 

Auntie alli's scarf wearing girl. 

And finally, bashful face girl.

Thanks papa, I love when I am not the only picture taker!

Christmas night

my kids don't love the traditional thanksgiving/christmas spread. matt and i like it, but it's kind of expensive, and kind of a lot of work, and it's kind of a lot of food to have twice in so many months. so we decided to do a nice steak dinner instead. and then we were laying around and not wanting to cook. and then my neighbor (and oga's owner) kept posting on the fb that oga's was open for business. and then laura texted and asked what we were having for dinner. i said something like "ogas? pizza? taco bell? can you tell i don't want to cook?" and she said something like "i don't think oga's is open," and i said something like "oh, they are. they really are," and then she said something like "david says we should do it and avoid the mess," and then i said something like "matt too!" so we had oga's for christmas dinner.

 and it was fabulous.

(until a few hours later when my tummy told me in no uncertain terms that it did not appreciate christmas candy for breakfast and lunch, and oga's for dinner)

* and also, blurry pictures haunt me in my sleep.

we brought over a big bunch of games and had fun playing.

disney headbandz is always fun with the kiddies.

even delaney got in on the action.

and yes, the little girls and i wore our pj's all day, and over there for dinner. the rest of the gang was all, "ooooh, i'll get dressed, i'm too fancy." but not us. we are christmas pj die hards.

the grown ups (minus josh, who was date planning, and chris, who was bonding over video games with daniel) played a rousing game of apples to apples. but then my tummy revolted on me. i was not feeling well, and matt had to work in the morning, so we called it an early night. i soaked in a nice warm bath and felt much better, fyi.

and that was our low key, very nice christmas. :)

the 26th was more of the same. jams, movies, eating, and lots of watching frozen videos. the girls love to sing along and it's pretty adorable. we can't wait for it to come out on video, it's totally our new favorite. :)

and did i mention this horribleness? 

frankie somehow discovered monster high and decided she needed a laguna blue doll for christmas. this was while i was gone, keep in mind. 

so then daddy decided she should have one from santa. so then all day on christmas all three girls fought over said laguna blue doll and i tisk, tisk'd because a: they are horrible and ugly and i don't like to have horrible and ugly toys in the house and b: i always get the girls equal things. if one gets laguna blue, the others would get an equally awful doll.

anyhow, the day after christmas matt went and got addie an equally awful doll, but then she had the newer one and there were still problems. oh, daddys.

 

also, on an unrelated note, gingerbread twix are not nice.

the end.

Christmas morning

I have not yet mastered the art of Christmas morning pictures (or any pictures really, but especially Christmas morning...) but here are a few. 

Little miss early riser (Frankie) came into our room very early and we had her climb into bed with us. Then daddy wanted to go downstairs with her, without the rest of us! Looks like Matt and I have different ideas about Christmas morning protocol. We'll need to figure that out before 2014. 

We got the girls just a few things, and of course the big kids. We opened all of out presents and then we were all excited to get the girls downstairs. We asked them what Santa had brought them and tried to get the to realize he hadn't brought them anything. 

So then we went to look around. They were so excited!

They got a fun indoor trampoline from Santa. I'm hoping this will help with some of their crazy winter energy!

We had a nice Christmas morning. Very low key, the kids played with toys, Lexi primped with her new curling iron and blow dryer (getting her ready for college, little by little!), and Chris retired to the basement to play his new video game. He doesn't play much, so I let him. When the girls took a nap, Lexi and I started on this 1000 piece puzzle Laura had given me. Then Matt came to help. And then both those yahoos deserted me. As nap time drew to a close, I had to throw in the towel. I'm gonna need some serious puzzle doers if I'm gonna get this done. 
Santa also brought us a giant Reese's peanut butter cup. He just couldn't resist

We ate stocking candy all morning and stayed in our jams all day. It was fabulous. (:

Christmas eve!

these three are so goofy! they were so happy to see each other. this was an after-nap playtime in sissy's room. frankie's awesome hair was the reason i took this pic. nice, right?

that evening we headed out to flat iron farm with the mccombs. it was c-c-cold!!!

frankie was not happy with how cold it was and she would not smile.

 at all. all night.

silly girl.

addie's a sweet big sister. "what's wrong, frankie?"

matt had taken the girls here while i was gone and they both loved riding the horses around, but addie decided she couldn't handle the smell. she is so my girl! laney, however, loved the horses and insisted she ride first.

it was so cute, she loved every minute of it and wasn't scared at all.

and then she was not happy when it was time to get off. she is such an animal lover, it's adorable.

then frankie was going to ride, but she flaked out at the last minute and refused. so strange. so then we asked addie, who also declined, but finally decided she would ride.

she managed to enjoy herself despite the aroma.

big girl. :)

we missed santa, since it was Christmas eve and all, so we used his couch for some pictures of our own.

the kiddos.

 just missing katie to round out the 10. how sad that each year we'll be missing more kids. i guess it's sad and also good, this whole circle of life thing.

i asked someone to take a pic of all of us and he did an awesome job! love when that happens, which is pretty rare. :)

*don't smile, frankie.

then we saw a sleigh and had to get a pic. see sleigh, take picture, right?

way to be ready, addie!

and then she got silly. and chris hid in josephs shadow. and laney threw a fit, but that continued the whole photo shoot.

there's christian!

nearly impossible to get a good pic of so many.

impossible.

but we'll still try. every chance we get.

they had several new shops this year and also this cute gingerbread lane. love it!

the gang, 2013 style.

after flat iron farms we rushed as fast as we could to pick up our pizza hut. we placed our order at 6, to be ready to pick up at 8:15. they called our house phone (which we weren't at) to let us know they actually closed at 8, so they didn't end up making our pizzas. thankfully we decided to add a pizza, so i called and they told me about their blunder. we made it just in time and headed to mccombs to enjoy. we ate our pizza and read the christmas story in the bible. it was a good night. :)

when we got home we quickly opened our jams, put out our cookies, and sprinkled our reindeer food. it was so cold that i stayed inside and snapped through the window.

so, the girls pj's. 

i had picked out a super cute set of matching pajamas for them, and then i saw these nighties. they.love.nighties. 

it's all they want to wear every night. and they love princesses. i don't love these nighties, or clothes with princesses on them, but i knew they would. so i had an internal debate the whole time i walked around target. i finally decided to get the ones they'd like, and when they opened them i was so glad i did. they loved their jams! it was so precious! they were spinning and curtsying, it was so darn cute. goofy picture time!

then frankie and laney got in on the super model action! i love them!

and lexi and i, same size and everything. ;)

and da boys. i'm sure they love matching too. :)

after everyone was in bed, and not a creature was stirring, i worked on stockings while santa matt set up the girls trampoline in the basement. after i finished i went down and helped him for a good hour+. helping santa is hard work! and then we were finally ready for christmas. :)