We have had many awesome, epic tree hunting adventures in years past. But this year there just wasn’t any way to fit in a trip to cut our own. Sometimes simply being flexible is the name of the game. It was drizzling and cold, again, so it was a short lived outing but any outing with cousins is a fun one. Oh how thankful we are to live nearby my sister and her stellar hubby and their beautiful, precious kids!
Wow. I can’t believe we didn’t get any posts up the week of Christmas.
Then again I can. We had family gatherings nearly every day for over a week. Many of them at our home.
It was crazy. And fun (mostly – except my sometone’s temper tantrum on Christmas Eve).
Here are a few sweet moments we captured (better late than never hopefully!)…
As if heading to downtown Seattle the last weekend night before Christmas wasn’t ambitious enough for our little family, as our evening unfolded we found ourselves to be part of quite an adventure.
First, in order to get out of the parking garage, we waited what seemed like an eternity for the elevator that must be older than we are.
Then we walked up a few blocks to watch the fake snow fall in a mall atrium. We waited for almost a half an hour looking upward. When the snow came, it was actually some bubble foam sprayed from a few stories up. It was cool enough for one time, but won’t make the cut next year.
By this time we were pretty hungry. Kids have been in strollers or on backs. It was crazy crowded so no running around was in order.
We head back to the other mall for food. Despite the fact it is the weekend before Christmas, they were closing in 30 minutes. We learned 3 years ago that when they close, even if you just got your food, they will stand around watching you as they ask you to leave your table and exit the area. That was fun.
So we set out in a mainly retail area, to secure some food. We burned through my well stocked snack bag quite quickly. A pregnant sister, five little troopers whose patience was waning and no sign of a food source. We were getting desperate. We kept saying “One more block?”. Every place we found was a super long wait.
My sister staked out an Italian restaurant that she thought was a low key pasta joint. She glanced at the menu but only paid mind to the pizza prices. She noticed that the guests were wearing slacks and dresses. We were so in need of food at this point that the fact this was a high caliber Italian restaurant with rave reviews was quite impertinent. We sat. We ordered. We waited.
“Would you like some wine with your ravioli?” our waiter asks me.
My kidneys hate me I remind myself. They are working overtime still trying to heal. Alcohol is off limits but somehow I still manage to say “I shouldn’t but….yes, please.”
Sippy cups were thrown. Bread came. Bread was devoured.
We noted that this was not exactly family restaurant, a far cry from Red Robin indeed. We definitely caught some glances at our table for TEN-five kids, five adults.
Audrey filled her diaper. I went to change her. I discovered that this kind of establishment does not cater to kids, thus had no changing table. So I piled up 20 paper towels and laid her on the small bathroom counter. I turned slightly red as woman after woman came to wash their hands while I was busy wiping a ghastly smelling diaper within arms reach.
We returned from said bathroom adventure to find antsy little people. We inquired about crayons to do some drawing.
Instead of crayons they were pleased to offer us – SHARPIE permanent markers “In all sorts of colors!” said the congenial waiter as he handed them to a three year old!
“Why does Audrey have a that-she can’t have that!?” said my curious husband.
“We are on the brink. I’m not sure if you can feel it over there. But we’re so close. We are just trying to hang in till food comes okay?” I replied.
Our food arrived, Rylee ate her fillet of grilled salmon in 3 minutes and promptly asked for another, I smiled and shook my head. Caleb’s pizza was twice the size of his head. My $20 plate of ravioli consisted of two giant pieces of pasta. They were fantastic, I inhaled them in 5 minutes knowing Audrey was about to lose it.
I stood and grabbed Audrey ready to make a run for it. I grabbed my glass of wine, quickly finished the glass. Kyler joins me as we hightail it out of there. We find wide open spaces and the two littles run free.
They watched a window washer through the beautiful glass window railing. Then just as I snapped this photo…
…Kyler gets his head stuck on the other side as he peers down 2 stories. He starts to panic and pull back and scream. I hope I don’t rip his ears off as I pull him back through. We find something a bit safer to do after I determine that Audrey’s head AND entire body would certainly fit through the opening.
We then ventured back to the carousel and end the evening riding horses together just as we (and my sister Danielle and her husband Todd) have done for the past 9 years in a row. This year it was great fun to have our other sister, now graduated from nursing school, back home to join us as well.
Yes, we still shop at Target some days and have our share of Hotwheels cars. But this year, we are choosing to only buy things for our children that we know where they came from. Hand made wooden cars from a grandpa on the east coast. Beautiful, simple baby dolls from a stay at home crafty mama. Carefully sewn light saber swords that won’t leave a mark when they “accidentally” whack you in the head.
Yes, it costs more to buy fair trade, local items. But I would argue that most kids don’t need the plethora of toys they are barraged with every year. Truly, less is more. Simple and classic can be wonderful. Just because it doesn’t have batteries doesn’t mean it isn’t cool.
So these are a few things that will be found under our tree this year (or under the trees of our friends with kids) in case you are interested in any ideas…
I bought a set of these cars for each kid for their stockings this year. I will have to restrain myself from the last minute dollar store run for just a ‘few more things’. But I think I can do it. And these heirloom quality, ready to be played with by boys and Rylee will be wonderful. My interactions with Grandpa Ernie’s niece (who runs the selling side of the shope for him) were downright entertaining and very speedy.
Have you ever been knocked in the head by your son’s plastic or wooden sword? Have you ever had to throw said sword into the trash 4 days after you bought it because it broke? Well, instead consider the thickly stuffed fabric sword from this mother of boys. They won’t dent your head or your wall and are modeled after the light sabers in Star Wars (in my opinion). Our boys are mad crazy for Star Wars and I’m quite sure this gift will be a highlight this December.
For the girlie girl in your life…fun hair clips and lovely hats and headbands. Made by a pair of moms who met while picking up their adopted daughters from South Korea, I have given these as gifts a couple of times and they are absolutely darling. I tried to make some myself. It did not go well. Now I have a lot of ribbon for….something.
At this little shop you can find I Spy bags. They are a fun, quiet, interesting little activity for children. Our kids are huge fans of the I Spy books. I actually bought do-it-yourself kits of these and sewed them myself last year. The kids LOVED them. Until our dog shredded them into pieces and I cried in the kitchen. They make a great gift.
This Tennesee mama makes amazing ring slings and other types of baby carriers. I have two of her slings myself and they are my first choice for carrying Audrey in. She has also done some other custom sewing for me and is quite talented. When Audrey was born we got Rylee a little baby doll sling for her to wear her baby. She loves it and now carries our cat around the house in it daily. The ones like Rylee’s at Li’l Peeper Keepers are now $15 but you can find many great choices in the $10 range here or here.
It was hard but narrowed down my choices and a doll from this shop will be Audrey’s gift this Christmas. I thought I’d get Rylee one too but I can tell she doesn’t really want a baby. She’d rather have a purse and a diaper bag for her baby things. And an outfit for her cat…so I’m working on sewing those myself (we’ll see how that works out!).
For a portion of our Christmas celebration, we chose to exchange names and not only give a gift to the name we drew, but also some sort of creative expression. I was lucky enough to draw my brother-in-law’s name and here is the song I “wrote,” played on guitar, and sang for Todd. Please note that there was a considerable amount of inspiration from Enrique Iglesias, and a few borrowed lines from here and there, and some help from Karissa. Todd has recently taken a journey into the world of home brew, hence the subject matter of the song. As you read, Continue reading
Table for Six 