December

December has been a fantastic month. We've done tons of fun stuff. Here's a few highlights.

I hit the jackpot on friends moving here to Washington. I have lots of friends, but particularly two that have kids that line up almost exactly with mine. We trade kids around all the time and it is like I never knew what I was missing before this. Chloe and these two boys are the best of friends. They are so stinking cute together. When they come over they just drift away and play for hours and they almost never fight or need anything from me. It's glorious. 

 Grandma Suzanne sent hte kids the cutest Christmas outfits. We've been wearing them nonstop ever since.

 Spencer had a total tragedy happen this week. He was supposed to go on a choir fieldtrip and the school district only sent one bus instead of the two that were needed. The teacher had to make a split second decision and she decided to take part of the choir, just the fourth and fifth graders, and leave the third graders. There were reasons, but man, it was horrible for Spencer and his friends in third grade. They're planning how to make it up to them. I decided to get him out of school because I felt horrible for him and wanted to make sure he was okay. He's a sensitive soul and I wanted him to feel loved after such a huge disappointment. So I got him and thankfully he was okay, but I took he and Chloe to McDonald's for lunch and just never took him back to school that afternoon. It was so fun.

 I guarantee neither of these will stay blondies, but for now they're my two blondies, and they look so much alike, down to even having the exat same color eyes. They love each other so much. It's adorable. We had a great time eating and going to Costco.

 Here's the first of two triple batches of date nut bread. I make it once a year and it's a labor of love, but  man, the results are stellar. I gave a bunch away for gifts but the second batch I made into muffins and tiny loaves and we are going to enjoy them for days.

 I got building this week! So satisfying. I made this end table and bench for the table my friend and I made a few weeks back. They both turned out just as I wanted and I can't wait to stain the table. My friend already swiped her bench before I got to fill the screw holes, she loves it so much. Haha!

 We had the unfortunate surprise this week of springing a leak in one of my kids' room ceilings. We've had absolutely crazy rainstorms for days, and the darkest day on record, which was horrible, and it overwhelmed our very clogged up gutters from the fall pine needles falling. I don't know what the process will be now to fix it, but there's definitely damage to be mitigated.

 Chloe and I went to the school for a holiday singalong. It was fun. They have a really great choir teacher.

 Spencer also had a choir concert at the high school, which was super fun.

 My cousin's daughter got baptized on Saturday in Spokane and my Grandma, who I haven't seen since February and before that a long time more because she was on a mission with my mom, was there. We decided it was totally worth heading over for the event. We had the greatest time. It was a total whirlwind trip because I was accompanying the choir number in our ward the next morning, so we had to leave at 4AM to get back in time, but we went over Saturday, visited with my aunt and uncle and grandma, went to the baptism, and had a delightful evening with my cousin's family before we slept and then drove back super early. It was totally worth it.

 And this is Genevieve and her second cousin, who through a total quirk of genes, look almost like twins. They are the same age and in the same grade and aside from being blonde vs. Genevieve's red, otherwise they look so similar. The funny thing is my cousin and I look quite similar in our very dark features, so both of us having light-haired girls that look like each other is just trippy.

It has been a great month and now Bill is home for a few days for Christmas and I'm delighted.

Choir concert, nativity celebration

Spencer had a district choir concert this week at the high school. It was fun. Also long for the little siblings. But we sat surrounded by friends and Genevieve sat somewhere else with her friends and it made me happy that we have made so many friends here this last year and our kids are thriving. 

 We had a Hawaiian-themed Christmas party at church and we came home with a couple hula hoops. Chloe was practicing her skills.

 We went to the Bellevue Nativity Celebration that is at the church right by the Seattle temple this Sunday. I was completely wowed by the extent of the work that went into making this an awesome event. There were live choirs singing for three straight days. Hundreds of nativities. Absolutely glorious decorations. The kids thought it didn't sound fun when I told them we were going, but they were awed as well. We had a great time. The nativities were beautiful, dressing up was fun, and the activity room at the end was a hit.

Thanksgiving, tree hunting, and other bits

I got my stitches out today. Huzzah! Now to like 11 months of gradual healing, but hey, better than pre-surgery.  I mean, I'm three months into my right hand's healing and it's not bad. Stil healing though. I've been pretty surprised just how long this one takes, but the more people I talk to, the more I hear the same thing. Pretty good really fast after surgery, but the real healing that ends in no more numbness and achiness takes much longer.

I'm advising my good friend through building a kitchen table. It's been fun. Haven't quite finished yet, but we'll get on it this week hopefully.

In a Thanksgiving miracle, we got our stove replaced after two months with only a couple burners working. The new one is so much better.

Thanksgiving this year was wonderful. We went over to my SIL's house and had a big ole' party with our six, their six, and a third friend's five. It was chaotic and wonderful. The kids played and played and slept so well that night. Food was good, company was better.

Day after Thanksgiving we headed up to Leavenworth to cut down a tree. It was fun. Next year it will probably help if we find where to go from Leavenworth to find a mountain with good trees, but we muddled around a bit and found ourselves one we liked well enough. The kids loved the snow and each tried their hand at cutting down the tree we picked. I think we'll probably do that again, though maybe not drive all the way out to Leavenworth. There's much closer national forests if we want to go there.

On Saturday we cleaned the church, which we do every quarter or maybe every six months. Spencer got the space vacuum and cleaned huge parts of the chapel with it. I'm pretty sure it weighs over half of how much he weighs, lol. He's such a good worker.

Our tree in it's glory.

 We have a cute little outside Christmas tree in our side yard that we decorated too.

 And lit up. The branches are long and thin at hte ends, so the lights can only go in the center, but we actually were able to put heaps of ornaments on because the branches are super sturdy at the base compared to the junipers we've been used to in the South.

 And I love having so many surfaces to spread out decorations on. Mantle, piano, bookshelves. It's lovely.

 We have a 25 days of Christ program we do with ornaments and I picked this little tree up last year to use for that. It is perfect. The ornaments are unfinished wood, so it compliments this true well.

 I made these little tasty cranberry bites last night. They are so yummy. I have wanted to make them for years, but never did until this year when I had just a couple dozen cranberries leftover. Definitely worth it. I'll make them again in the future.

 And finally, I framed out this picture finally yesterday after spending six months painting it, and I love how it turned out. It's for Genevieve and I don't know where we'll hang it, but I don't care. I love it. It was so intricately detailed. Definitely the most complicated one I've ever done.