Christmas 2010

Wow, exactly one month from today it was Christmas! Seriously, where does the time go?! This year was a pretty great Christmas - we got to spend about a month with Jamie and Charlotte, and about 2 weeks with Ben! We played in the snow, sled, watched movies, played tons of games, rocked out until the wee hours of the night, ate yummy food, chilled, shopped, went to the Nutcracker in Seattle, played in our jammies all day, had sleepovers and a one year-old birthday party.  I love when we get an excuse to hang out as a family and do everything and nothing.  Laura got to spend a lot of time down here too which we miss with her being so busy with work and all.  I miss having my sisters around especially Jamie being all the way in Chicago, but we are so lucky to have her as much as we do throughout the year! We're already counting down the days until August when she gets to come back and we can all smooch get in Charlotte's face - which face it, we do! We love our Lotte hugs and kisses!

Adie's poor face was squished by the hat! Where are your eyes baby?

There they are! :)

We didn't know we needed chains to get to Paradise, so we pulled over on a side street and found a bunch of others who also didn't know they needed chains, and found a small hill the girls were thrilled with.  As my brother-in-law Matt said, it was the lamest most perfect spot! The tiny hill ended in a moss covered boulder that stopped the girls from going down into the nearby stream.  It was a spectacular day!

Lucky for us we even got a visit from Dave's little brother Matt and his wife and two adorable babies.  It was fun to catch up and play with them! Christmas day was really fun too with Mom and Dad Coleman and my friend Heather and her family coming for dinner! It was a tight squeeze at my parent's with around 30 + people but we wouldn't have it any other way!

 

These last two pictures were on our Christmas card - sorry if you didn't get one, I forgot to mail them out until it was embarrassingly too late -only local friends and family got them that I delivered things to.  My goal next year is to mail them by December 1st! (Yeah right...)

A Birthday and A Blessing

Last month was Em's 7th birthday.  I'm nuts so I have to have a theme every birthday, and Emma chose Alice in Wonderland.  We kept it small with family (I think I'm still recovering from last year's 18 + party).  She got to choose where to eat for lunch, so we went to some Japanese restaurant our family loves.  Afterwards we went home for Disney charades, a game called Headbanz (I highly recommend this game for little kids - it's pretty fun) some cake and ice cream and presents.  It was a really nice low key day!

A few of Emma's favorite things right now:

*Diary of a Wimpy Kid

*Silly Bandz

*Scooby Doo movies and her Wii game

Avatar

*gettin' girlie with her fingernail polish and flower stickers

*her locket from Grandmo

*her alone time with Adison in the morning - she snuggles with her on the recliner while watching Scooby Doo on the Roku

*monkey bars at school

*ballet

*date nights with dad

*making cookies with Papa

I am so absolutely proud of how my little Emmie Lou Who is growing up.  Her teacher at school is a tough cookie, so it takes a lot to impress and soften her.  Luckily she just loves Emma to death.  Her first comment to me at school conference was how much she loves and appreciates what a good person Emma is and how empathetic she is with her fellow students.  Emma is kind hearted and would do anything for anyone.  She's fun and silly, a graceful little ballerina, and her sister's (and my) best friend.  I love you so much Emmie!

 Gotta love Adie's expression, apparently she didn't like Emma's arm around her neck, go figure!

 Emma got a cupcake maker that she loved and of course immediately started making everyone cupcakes!

My mom got her this set of dolls that she absolutely loved.  We're really bad with doll's shoes and crowns so I super glued them to the dolls. 

November also brought Adison's blessing.  Dave's brother and sister-in-law came over from Connell, as well as his dad, mom and sister from Kent.  My parents were there including 2 sets of aunts and families, grandma, Laura and friend Crystal.  We also invited some close friends to come participate in the blessing.  Afterward we had a luncheon at our house.  It was a beautiful experience seeing all the men in the circle holding our last little girl up in front of everyone.  I definitely felt the spirit and love all these people have for our family.  Thanks to everyone that came and shared in this special day!

My Little Elf

My own little Christmas elf!

Alice, Pinkalicious and a Bumble bee!

Here are a few shots of some Halloweenie things we did this fall! The annual pumpkin patch outing at Schilter's Farm - our very favorite place for produce, pumpkins and Christmas trees! Halloween candy houses with Auntie Laura and Crystal, pumpkin carving (the girls got to carve their own this year which really thrilled them) and of course a few parties and the church Trunk or Treat! Since Halloween fell on Sunday this year, the girls didn't get to go trick or treating, but they had a great time handing out candy at Grandmo and Papa's house!

 Dave and his fabulous hat/hair.

 My dad in his awesome outfit - he's wearing his anti contamination suit (he's a weapons of mass destruction trainer) and a WWII gas mask!

Pictures of Adison

I've been told I stink at putting new pictures of Adison up, so here are a few!

 She LOVES my mom!

 She's looking at the toy dangling from her swing.

 This is during one of her colicky crying session, luckily the past few nights have been scream free, crossing my fingers it's over! And don't look at my piles of laundry in the back ground.

She's one scrumptious bub!

One Amazing Night!

Last month Dave and some other members of the Lacey 5th ward (plus a few from other wards thrown in) put on a fantastic performance of songs about Joseph Smith and those that knew and loved him.  I forget the name of the man that wrote the songs from the CD - (speak up if you know his name). It was amazing though! Let me back up a few years.  One of the things that first drew me to Dave was how humble he was about his guitar playing skills - and he is awesome by the way! He even has a CD that he and a couple of guys recorded a few years before we were married, with songs that HE wrote! I have a song called Carried Away that he wrote and recorded for me while we were dating.  Back to the present! Since January, Dave and these people practiced every Tuesday night for hours, and quite a few Saturday mornings too.  For a long time I was a bit upset that he was gone so much while I was pregnant and having to put 3 kids to bed by myself.  After months of rehearsals I finally got to hear what took my husband away for so many months.  And it was great! Seeing Dave up there performing again was fantastic.  It was wonderful to see him doing something that he loves and is so dang good at!   Way to go Dave!

 The girls loved seeing their dad play.  Emma said,"Wow, Dad's a rock star!"

He looks pretty hot here...just sayin'!