Over the River....

....and through the woods, to Grandmother's House we went. And stayed for a couple of nights. We visited with Aunt Carrie, Uncle Peter, and sweet baby Madeline. But sadly, we weren't all healthy. The camera got forgotten at the bottom of a packed bag, and little ones were kept apart in an attempt to keep all healthy. Brogan had been running a fever and we had determined that Mom and he would stay home in Vancouver while Brian and the girls went to Sehla. But, when it came time to hug good-bye...it just didn't feel right to be apart. B's fever seemed to be in remission, so we quickly grabbed the previously packed bags and loaded everyone up in the car for a 4 hour drive. By the time we arrived, the fever was back (but not as high) and the boy was cranky. But we snuggled together on the couch while presents were passed around....books, necklaces, clothing, and more were exchanged. We had a yummy dinner and then, at 6:30 KK approached and asked if she could go to bed. Not a good sign. Sure enough, the next morning KK was running a fever (but Brogan's was all the way gone). While the other's left to do some gift exchanges and brave the world of "After Christmas Shopping Sales"...mom, KK, and Brogan laid low at home and rested in hopes of speeding recovery (and maintaining it, in Brogan's case). The group returned home, we watched "UP" together (all dog lovers really should see this film), and then turned in for the night. It was decided that since Carrie and Peter would be leaving the following day, we too would head home. It was a short visit, but it was wonderful to spend time with Grandma Reynolds, Bob, Carrie, Peter and Madeline. So sad that the camera never saw day-light....but the memories are still securely tucked in.

Christmas Day Splendor

A review in photos: The tree post visit from Santa pre carnage of the children (lights out)

Remember, there are 5 different households represented in the gift giving below. 16 people in total. It looks like a lot. It is a lot but...it's Christmas....(if you turn on the lights, this is what you will see)
These are the 3 top-secret presents left for Cass, KK and Boy-O....what could they be?
Stockings. Lots and lots of stockings......
The happy faces of the little ones (see KK clinging to her cousin MO?) as they are allowed in to spy on the tree and bask in all the Christmas Morning splendor...Cass was permitted to peak in and see all of this FIRST by herself and because she is one of the older kids she waited patiently as the little ones shuffled in for their first look....
One of the gifts eagerly hoped for by each of the grandkids was the beloved PILLOW-PET...no sleep-over at Grandma's can be complete without one. And now, they ALL have one! Thank you Grandma! Cass got a panda...
Brogan received a frog (have we mentioned that green is the boy's FAVORITE color?)
And shoved in this tall thin box, cleverly disguised, is KK's Monkey....
The entire room fell silent when the girls opened THIS present and exclaimed quite joyously (and loudly), "TOTORO!!!!". What is Totoro, you might ask? A charming Japanese cartoon about a little girl who gets lost in the woods and meets 3 sweet "totoro's" which is an intentional mispronunciation of the japanese word for troll. Ask the girls about the cat bus. We dare you. Don't you tube it. It's a bit disturbing.
Brian scored this t-shirt from Glenn and Lori. I think it fits him perfectly. Wish I had thought to give it to him.
Remember those mysterious red Santa Boxes? Here is what was found inside:

Brogan got Power Miner Lego's. Exactly what he asked for.....he must have been really good this year. Santa has told him there is more where that came from if he can manage to be potty trained. Thank you for being on our side, Santa.
KK (wearing her new snow hat...like Agnes' on "despicable me" which we highly recommend if you haven't seen it yet...) was thrilled to find the asked for Strawberry Shortcake Berry Cafe. She too enjoyed a year of good behavior.
Cassidy was all smiles and squeals of delight when she opened her very own bow and arrow set that came with a target (all plastic with suction cups..that Santa is a wise individual!). She had originally asked for a bow and arrow with a rope attached so she could shoot it high up in the trees or buildings and then climb up or down, as the case may be. We told her those types of things were for special op's and she would need to settle for one a little less special. Turns out she is a natural and quite a good shot. Perhaps she will graduate to the real thing sooner then planned....she and Daddy are making plans to go to a shooting range as soon as we can arrange it. Fun! Cassidy also had a wonderful year and Santa took care to give her what she asked for with some modifications for safety purposes.
Of course, all good boys deserve some love on Christmas and Brian was included in that. Brian got a brand NEW xbox 360. Making him the proud owner of....not one...not two...but THREE x-box 360's. Why so many? Well....can you really ever have too many? To be honest, one was slightly mangled when Brogan decided to use it as his very own DVD player and became frustrated when his disk wasn't loading fast enough...he pushed a little too hard and broke the disk tray rendering a perfectly good xbox in-operable. (gasp!) So we only had 1 functional system. It's a difficult thing to share something like this. The kids want to play games....Daddy wants to play only ONE game. So, in the name of family harmony, the purchase of the additional box was necessary. And it was a surprise. A secret kept since Thanksgiving night when it was purchased during a clandestine and insane special op's mission to Toys-R-Us where we fought crowds of holiday shoppers. Then reported that the mission had FAILED....when really, it had been a success. Sneaky. Very sneaky. But worth it to see this smile and the glazed look in his eye (maybe it was tears...we'll never know).
There were so many presents....wrapping paper pilled high....laughter echoing....a perfect and wonderful birthday celebration. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Festivities

We had a gift exchange among the cousins and the adults for Christmas Eve. The kids had fun spending time searching for the perfect gifts for their cousins. And they were equally as thrilled with the gifts thoughtfully chosen for them. Perhaps one of the most entertaining gifts came from Brian who drew Mo's name (he is 14 now, so he was grouped in the adult gift exchange). Brian made Mo 2 original pieces of art. The first piece was intended to be a joke...a very lovely image of Mo riding a pink my little pony while wearing a pirate outfit and the slogan "Pony Power!" across the top. The second piece was a black and white painting of Mo mid-transformation from human to the grim reaper (he's a teen...this was very acceptable...and his mother loved it too). We were all impressed with the art but perhaps a little surprised that the Pony Power piece was actually just as loved as the real piece and we were assured that BOTH items will be hanging on his bedroom wall! Check it out below:

Of course, our family tradition of opening and wearing new Christmas Jammies was also honored this year. The girls graduated to "big kid" jammies with new micro-fiber bottoms and columbia waffle shirts on top. Cassidy's sport a cute little penguin and KK's, of course, have a monkey on them. Brogan's, although not photographed, are digger jammies. All went to bed snug and warm and anxious for the morning.

The sweetest moment of the evening came when we all gathered together before opening our jammies and presents and read from Luke 2. Uncle Ryan did the reading this year. We all listened with reverence and genuine appreciation as the story of Christ's birth was recounted in scripture. It is a story that is beautiful in it's simplicity.
We are grateful this year to be spending the holidays with the many branches of the Harmon family tree. Of course we missed our East Coast roots but memories of Christmas's past and the sweet sound of Grandpa Schroyer's voice (see post below) kept you in our hearts. We've been very blessed this year most significantly with love and family.

A Few of My Favorite Things....

Grandpa and LaLa sure do know how to pick 'em and spoil 'em. The kids were thrilled with their gifts. The backpacks were quickly filled and rolled around the apartment....and every place else we go. Who knew we really needed backpacks this entire time? It has made life simpler and travel easier. The kids instantly fell in love with their new slippers and the BOY was completely an utterly in love with his new dump truck/robot. It is quite impressive and named "rocky".

Their favorite gift though was opened and listened to/read on Christmas Eve. The thrill and joy of hearing Grandpa read "'Twas the night before Christmas" to them on Christmas Eve was a fond tear filled moment. We miss you! We love you! Thank you...so very much...for that most thoughtful gift that has been listened to over and over again sometimes as a group and often times as individual time with Grandpa.

Thank you!

Today we received this lovely ornament from Uncle Chris and Rob....

It is a hand painted original. We love it and it fits in perfectly with our RED decorations on the tree. Thank you, Chris. We think it's beautiful!

Going Postal

We understand that this is an extra busy time for shipping companies. We can cut them some slack when it takes a little longer to deliver a package then estimated. BUT, this year we have had some real issues and I'm bloggin about it because I'm SOOOO frustrated. Check out the evidence of just ONE of our shipping horrors. Below, we need to draw your attention to the VERY large, VERY yellow, FRAGILE Handle with Care sticker...see the puncture wound just beneath it? About the size of a clementine....

And in the photo below, you can see the large gaping gash (packing peanuts were literally falling out)...that is about 6-8 inches long....

In all it's glory.....Seriously...worst luck ever. UPS somehow managed to "auto correct" our address in their system. So our packages were being sent to NE 168th rather then SE 168th...to the home of a lovely family who spend the winter in Arizona. How do I know this? Because I went over and left a note on their doorstep explaining the situation and asking them to please call us if any more packages show up. The kind neighbor checking on the house phoned and let me know that she was correcting UPS each time they came over. We finally actually spoke to someone at UPS (not an easy thing to do) and they have corrected our address in their system. We are hoping that no more of our tracked packages end up showing "delivered" but don't end up on our doorstep. In a first, the USPS managed to lose a package as well...this one was shipped to my parents home with our name AND their name on it. Somehow, it too was "delivered" but isn't anywhere to be seen. I learned of this after waiting on hold (listening to some of the WORST hold music ever) for over 30 minutes. I spoke to someone (English was not their first language) and was told that the package in question was delivered Dec 9th...wich would be great IF the package actually appeared. I've had a couple items show up broken, one get lost...only to be delivered 3 weeks late (it made an unfortunate detour to NE 168th.....which is how we learned of the mix-up to begin with). I'm sort of over the whole shipping challenge for this year. I can completely understand and empathize with the whole "going postal" notion now. Sigh. We hope you are all enjoying better luck.

Baby, it's cold outside....

On Friday we ventured out into the blustery cold night in Portland to enjoy a magical adventure: Peacock Lane. There is a rule that if you buy a house on this street, you commit to lighting your house for the holiday season. Some people REALLY do it up. And some are much more sedate, but ALL really are lit. We braved the chill in the air (because is WASN'T raining) and bundled everyone up to walk the lane. Take a look at some of the festive decor:

Cass and Kayla take a moment to pose in front of a brightly twinkling house (above) and KK stops to down some of the free and yummy hot chocolate handed out by one of the kind neighbors. What a treat! (Below)


THE GRINCH! Easily one of our favorite displays.....

The kids loved walking under these arches. It was crowded though and we were pushing a double wide stroller...it wasn't easy navigating.


A final message to all: JOY and PEACE. Very pleasant wishes we hope to embrace this season (and we can aim for the same thing for 2011) and hope you find some too!

Let's Go See Santa!

Today we took the train into Portland. Shockingly, it was a rainy day.

The kids love riding the train!

Our destination was Macy's, all decked out for Christmas. The boy was impressed.

We visited the trains, the reindeer, and then yes, the Big Man himself.

Kayla's pensive expression as she grapples with the "Have you been a good girl?" question.

All the cousins pile in for group picture!

Writing letters to Santa (in case he forgets the conversation he just had with you? I dunno).

We finish the afternoon with ice cream treats in the mall above the skating rink.

Family Night, brought to you by Lego

Brogan was in charge of Family Night tonight, and after our recent visit to the Nativity Festival we decided to create our own (in Lego form). Definitely a collaborative effort, with input from all members of the group:

"Iconic color schemes dating from medieval art have Mary represented wearing the color blue, so this one is Mary."

"Baby Jesus should be all white."

"Joseph and Mary need happy faces, but the wise men can be older and scruffy."

"Jar Jar Binks can be the angel on top because he has big ears like wings."

"No! Jar Jar is not an angel!"

"The storm trooper will make a good shepherd, 'cause he's all in white."

Nativity Display

We have lots of family traditions around this Holiday Season. This year we are trying to do something "Christmassy" every day. On Friday night we discovered "The Nativity". It is a collection of 100's of different nativities from all over the world collected and displayed at one of our churches. We took some pictures of our favorites but before we get to that part of the post, we want to highlight a few other points. There is an exceptional children's area. Here is Cassidy, bringing "Glad tidings of Great Joy....."

Our little Angel giving some parenting advice to Mary (aka: Kayla)

Our very own little mommy channeling her inner "Mary",

Tour guide Brogan, giving instructions, "Don't touch anything! Righ this way please..."

Brogan, trying to obey his own "don't touch" edict...

The temptation was too great at this water feature. He HAD to touch....OOOOOH!

Kayla thought this nativity was cute:

Origami. Another Kayla favorite:

Penguines...I don't know if you can see the tiny little baby penguin tucked under the mommy's feet. So cute. A Cassidy fav.
Lego's. It would be impossible to say which of us thought this one was the best (but I can eliminate myself from the list of possibilities. Cool. But not my fav).
Frogs! Seriously!?!
This one was Brogan's very favorite (although the lego one may still top it). Veggie Tales!
Chickens. This one is in honor of our dear friends in NH the Lawless Family. It should be in your house. Somewhere.
The girls were amazed by this pink number.
There were SO many more. We spent a good hour and a half walking around and STILL didn't see it all. We quite literally had to carry a screaming sad boy out of the building calling to all who would listen, "I don't wanna go....". We are going to go back tonight. They are on display until Sunday evening. Really, it was beautiful and we are all looking forward to seeing them again. Maybe there will be more photos to come.