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.

The HUMMER limo

A couple of months ago the girls sent out emails and phone calls asking for help with a school fundraiser. They were each motivated to sell 18 items. Why 18? Because 18 was the magic number to get you a ride in a STRETCH HUMMER LIMO to have lunch at Godfather's Pizza.

Well, on Tuesday KK got to ride in the limo. You can imagine our surprise when I showed up to take photos and it was discovered that the kids didn't have an adult supervisor to travel with. So, I got to ride in the limo with Kayla's group. It really was super cool. The kids were excited but SO well behaved (they were 1st and 2nd graders). Such a cute group. KK got to go with her best little buddy E.A. and KK managed to eat BOTH her pieces of cheese pizza. A huge feat.

Then on Wednesday Cassidy was treated to a ride as well. Her group was 3rd and 4th graders and I'm not sad to report that I didn't get to ride in this particular limo. There is a big difference in behavior from 1st graders to 3rd graders and most definitely 4th graders. It was a busy group and I don't envy the mother that joined them in the limo.
Both girls were thrilled to have this experience! Thank you SOOOOO very much to anyone and everyone who participated. It really did give them a special experience to remember.

PCM with family

On the first Friday of every month at the Portland Children's Museum, Target sponsors a "free Friday". It's free to get in from 4-8pm and they plan lots of fun activities. It may not come as much of a surprise to some of you, but the DIG PIT is the favorite location for 80% of our group. Uncle Bryce climbed in to play with his little man, Ben.

Can you find all of the kids that belong to us?
The other 20% of our group prefers to pretend to be little mommies and do the grocery shopping in the busy store complete with shopping carts and a working cash register!
Tonight we were lucky to enjoy an amazing children's choir from Rowanda. They were amazing and we were SO glad that we got to watch them.
We had plans to go across the parking lot to observe the ZOO LIGHTS, but the kids were exhausted and hungry...so we will save that for another Christmas activity this month. It looks like it will be fabulous. Here's to crossing our fingers for good weather....or at least a night of no rain.

Grandma's Tree

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree.....this is what happens when you let an enthusiastic group of pre-school aged kids decorate your Christmas Tree. Every ornament ends up about covering the tree from 4 feet down. Zoey, Brogan, and Abby were very helpful with the bottom half of the tree. (Ben was incredibly cute and happy to help rearrange the decorations with a bit of flair and baby drool.)

And although you can't see them very well, Cass and KK are in the picture below making sure the higher parts of the tree are covered as well. It's all about balance. Cass is actually standing on the window ledge to reach this high.

Gingerbread House 2010

We are trying to do a Christmas related activity every day this year. We are 5 days into December and so far, we've managed to do something each day. On Dec. 1st we made gingerbread houses with our cousin Abby, Grandma Harmon and Aunt Danette. So much fun!

FINISHED PRODUCT:

It may not be a masterpiece, but by making it, we also made memories and THAT is what this year is all about for us. Keep checking back for updates on some of the things we do this month to help us keep Christmas in our hearts (where all special things belong).