Christmas and Leavenworth...

We had a wonderful Christmas here at our house. Everyone came over for presents in the morning and Christmas dinner around 1pm.









Daniel got a new taggy blanket from his Great-Gramma that she made for him. He grabbed it so fast and started smelling it. He took his old taggy in one hand and the new one in the other and went back and forth smelling them, it was too cute. Now he carries them both around. :)








One of Daisy's favorite presents! :)



I always buy Ruh and Daisy the next Guiness Book of World Records. They really like looking through it.

I bought Daisy this fabulously fun shirt. She loves random graphics t-shirts. This one actually made me laugh out loud when I saw it so I knew it was the one. :)


Oh Charlie! There is just no way to get enough of that little boy's squishable cuteness!













Daniel was so cute playing with all his new toys. He loves the little truck that you hammer the nails on the top. He loves his little police car and firetruck that have buttons all over that make the sounds. Grampa George taught him how to stack the giant leggos. Those giant leggos are actually George's (my father-in-law) Christmas present. I bought them for the kids he works with. He will keep them in his car for when he visits them at home.


I'm very glad my in-laws, George and Bonita, came over for Christmas dinner. I gave Bonita a gift card to Cabela's, her new favorite store. I can't wait to see what she buys with it.


I sure do love this little family! My brother Ben, Mai and little Charlie.

After we ate Christmas dinner Ruh, Daisy, Daniel and I headed over the Cascades to Wenatchee and Leavenworth. We stayed in Wenatchee since the hotels in Leavenworth are a lot more expensive. It is only about a 20 minute drive from Wenatchee to Leavenworth. There was snow everywhere and it was so beautiful. Sadly this is the only picture I got of our little trip. The next day when I went to take pictures my batteries were dead and my spare set were dead as well even though I had just charged them. Ruh and Daisy went inner-tubing at the Leavenworth Winter Sports Club. There was a little lodge that sold food but no batteries. Bummer! The little ski area is so cute. There are a couple hills for people to ski and snowboard on and one little bunny slope. There are also a cross country skiing paths through the woods. There is no ski-lift just a rope pull that pulls you to the top. And then there is the tubing hill. They attach your tube to a rope pull and you sit in it while it pulls you to the top. The a guy at the top unhooks you and sends you down then tubing track. I had Daniel in the backpack and we watched Daddy and Sissy go down a couple times. I would have loved a pair of snowshoes right about then to go on a little hike.

We enjoyed Leavenworth and we ate lunch at Andreas Keller, an authentic German restaurant that is actually underneath the shops in Leavenworth. (I was able to find pictures on their website!) It is quaint and cozy full of beautiful wood work and German murals all over the walls. A little old man was playing an accordion. We sat in one of those cute little booths. I have never really liked sauerkraut but they brought us some with our bratwurst. This kind was called weinkraut and it was delicious! There was also potato salad with the meal and it was a lot different than American potato salad and it too was delicious. Daisy had the Bavarian Goulash and I am going to try and find a recipe for it. The little noodles are called spaetzle and are so cute. My favorite part of the whole trip was the mountains. I loved seeing the trees all covered in snow. We drove home on Highway 2 and for a while you drive through a narrow canyon next to the river. The rocks in the river were all covered with snow. We really had a wonderful Christmas and couple days after. I don't think I am ready for Christmas to be over! :)





A little wooden sign I saw in one of the shops said, "If you are blessed enough to be in the mountains...then you are blessed enough.". I agree. :)

Merry Christmas...

"For there is born to you this day in the City of David, a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:11

Christmas cookies...

Mom and and my sister-in-law Mai came over on Wednesday to make Christmas cookies. And we sure did make A LOT! By the end of the night there was not an inch of counter space left and half of my kitchen table was covered. We watched Home Alone and Willy Wonka (the original) while we baked and decorated. I took a the majority of the cookies to work this morning where I know they will be very much enjoyed.


Daniel and his cousin Charlie with their blankets Great Gramma made them.

Daniel wearing his little Starbucks apron. My little barista in training. :)

Charlie!!! He was smiling at his Auntie Annie. :)

I can't believe tomorrow is already Christmas! I am very happy I have gotten almost everything done and I am ready to have everyone over for Christmas dinner. After the Christmas festivities tomorrow Ruh, Daisy, Daniel and I will be heading east of the mountains to Wenatchee and Leavenworth. We will be staying in Wenatchee and heading up to Leavenworth on Sunday. It is a quaint little Bavarian Village in the Cascades that makes you feel like you have been transported to a village in the Alps. We will be playing in the snow, window shopping and enjoying the hotel's hot tub and pool in the evening. I am so excited to be heading up to the mountains. I need some good mountain air in my lungs and scenery to feast my eyes on. My husband knows the best gift he can give me is the mountains. :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Gramma and some fun tidbits...

My Gramma came for a little visit the weekend after Thanksgiving. She was visiting her brother in Portland and wasn't actually planning on coming up here but my parents offered to drive down and pick her up so she could visit for a few days. We decided to go ahead and have another little Thanksgiving while she was here. This time there was no wind or snowstorm and we had power so we had it over at our house this time. We had a blessing and we sang the Doxology before we ate for Gramma. She always gets a little teary when she hears her family singing the Doxology. She definitely enjoyed her two little great-grandsons. It was a very short but sweet visit and I hope she will come visit again soon.

After all of our Thanksgiving festivities I still had 2 jars of my homemade cranberry sauce. I saw an idea in Martha Stewart Living Magazine to use leftover cranberry sauce and extra pie crust to make little mini cranberry bites. I made some pie crust, rolled it out, cut out circles and put about a tablespoon of cranberry sauce in the center of each circle and crimped them up. Some didn't hold their shape in the baking process but they still looked cute and tasted good. I also had been eying that Starbucks mug at work. And yesterday I was surprised at work by getting to pick out a mug for free. I knew the exact one I wanted. I love it because it looks like it is wearing a little sweater! I plan on copying the idea and making some mug sweaters myself. Another holiday find at work I plan on copying are these felt bags. I bought one today and it will be very easy to copy and sew. I will use different colors and maybe even experiment with different shapes and sizes. They make great lunch bags.

I have almost all of my Christmas shopping done and I have haven't even stepped foot in a store. I really like being able to shop online without fighting the crowds. Mom is going to watch Daniel for me on Monday morning so I can go finish my shopping. I am hoping going early on a Monday morning will help me to avoid crowds. :)

5 year blogging anniversary...

I can't believe that I have been blogging for 5 years now! It really has been a lot of fun. Here's to another 5 years of blogging adventures! :)

Living Nativity...

This weekend is our church's (Discovery Bapitist, Gig Harbor) annual Living Nativity. It will run Saturday and Sunday night December 4th and 5th, from 5-8pm. Last year Daniel was 6 months old and he and I were Mary and Jesus. (Ruh had to work.) There were two other couples with little boys around Daniel's age so we took shifts which was very helpful when a baby got fussy. This year my brother, his wife and their little Charlie will be Mary, Joseph and Jesus along with four other couples. Charlie is actually borrowing the snow suit I had Daniel all bundled up in last year. I can't wait to see his cute little face sticking out of all those layers of cloth! Miss Daisy is playing a servant in Herod's court this year I believe. I plan on driving through on Sunday evening with Daniel. I hope everyone who is able can come through!

Thanksgiving...

We spent Thanksgiving this year nice and cozy next to my parents' wood stove. The plan was to have Thanksgiving dinner at our house since we have a lot more room but on Monday night a big wind and snowstorm blew in and knocked out our power. Daisy, Daniel, Starbuck (the dog) and I went and stayed at my parents' since they had power still and a wood stove. They also have a generator if their power goes out. Ruh wanted to stay at the house to keep an eye on things. The temperature at one point got down into the teens so we were really happy to have that wood stove. My brother, his wife and their 2 month old Charlie live at my parents but they sleep in the little cabin down by the pond so there were plenty of places for us to sleep in the house. Daniel and I took the spare room and Daisy crashed on the couch. We really had a fun time. I loved waking up in the morning and having breakfast with everyone. One morning I had to work at 5:30am and my dad drove me because the roads were so bad. Dad and I got all bundled up and headed to my Starbucks. When we got there my shift supervisor told me that they had been trying to call me all day the day before to tell me my shift had been canceled because all the ice had slowed business down quite a bit so they didn't need me. So Dad and I got some coffee, Dad an Americano and me an Eggnog Latte, and we headed back home. I spent the morning cleaning my parents' house to keep me busy so I wouldn't get bored.

Our power finally came back on Thanksgiving morning but it just wasn't enough time for me to get home, get the house cleaned and do all the cooking so we decided to stay. My in-laws and my brother-in-law Rahmat joined us and we all had a wonderful time. Daniel and little Charlie were the entertainment.







I made Martha Stewart's Turkey 101 like I did last year. I highly recommend it! (My sister-in-law Mai made the pretty roses from tomatoes!) It comes out moist and tender, even the white meat! I also made her Parker House Rolls, I highly recommend these as well.
















This is a picture of some of the damage from the storm. The wind knocked a tree down over my parents' neighbor's driveway. A tree also fell on their house! They are an elderly couple and they are both okay and the house didn't have too much damage. Even our house sustained a little bit of damage. Ruh climbed up oin the roof yesterday to clear off fallen branches and found one had punched a fist sized hole in the roof! There is now a tarp covering the hole and it will be fixed sometime next week. That sure was some crazy weather but it was also very exciting too! Our plans sure did change for the week but they were fun changes. I am very thankful for my wonderful family. :)

Cute, but also very true right now...

Snow!!...and cranberry sauce...

Yesterday it started snowing and this morning I woke up to more snow coming down. At the moment it is still snowing and we have about 4 inches. I am so glad I have the Christmas decorations up. Everything is so pretty and cozy. Ruh has the day off and we pulled out Daniel's hiking backpack and we went on a little walk before lunch with the dog. I bundled Daniel up and he really enjoyed being out in the snow.

This morning I decided to go ahead and make the cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and put it in some canning jars. It made 5 jars of sauce so I think I am going to have to send a jar home with my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law and my mom. It was so nice cooking up the sauce while there was snow falling outside my kitchen window. I have a pot roast in the crockpot for a meal tomorrow and I am making a chili for this evening. I am just amazed that it has not stopped snowing all day! If it keeps this up we will have 6 or more inches by the time we go to bed.

It's that time of year again!

I know I jumped the gun a little bit but my husband requested that I decorate for Christmas early this year. He didn't have to try very hard to talk me into it. My sister-in-law Mai is from Vietnam and they do not celebrate Christmas like we do here in the States so she has really been looking forward to the holidays. She asked if she could come over and help me decorate. And of course she brought over little Charlie! In the picture she is hanging up the little bird ornaments I sewed last week. Here are a couple hanging on the Christmas tree.













This is a little video of a couple of very cute boys!


I can't believe Thanksgiving is this Thursday! I am very excited to be hosting again this year. I will be making Martha Stewart's Turkey 101 like I did last year. It got rave reviews and everyone keeps telling me how excited they are to have it again this year. I already got all of my grocery shopping done. There is no way I want to fight those crowds at the grocery store! Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow and Monday. It's not suppose to be a lot but it will still be fun. It would be really fun if there is snow on Thanksgiving but so far the forecast isn't calling for it. It is going to be COLD though!

Happy Thanksgiving!

He's walking!

Time flies by so fast! My little guy is now walking! For a while he was just standing up on his own without holding onto anything but he wouldn't try to take any steps. Then this past week he finally took a couple steps towards Daddy but didn't try to take anymore steps after that. Yesterday I took Daniel with me to my friend Hannah's house and she and I visited while Daniel played with his buddy Billy. Billy is 3 months older than Daniel and has been walking for quite a while now. While we were in her kitchen Daniel stood up and we cheered him on and he proceeded to walk across her kitchen! We cheered and praised him. Hannah said it must have been peer pressure from Billy that finally got him walking! :) Here is a little video of him walking at home. I would have gotten more but my camera batteries died. I will make sure to get more video soon for all my SoCal family!



Here is a picture for my mother-in-law Bonita! She bought Daniel some cute little bath toys so I took a picture for her. He really has a lot of fun with them Bonita and I am trying to teach him how to squeeze them under water and then bring them up and squirt the water out.



And here are a couple pictures for my Gramma, Daniel's Great-Gramma! When she visited this summer she brought Daniel this little cup with a fun straw. He loves having his afternoon cup of water/juice in it. :)