Presley performed at the Lifecare Center today with her friends from Montessori.  I can’t tell you how many times, betweel Liam, Skyler and Presley, we have now been to the Lifecare Center, but nonetheless, it never seizes to be darling.  They sat on Santa’s lap (again), sang songs and had treats.  I was stoked to be able to go with her this time as mostly grandma has had to step in.  Presley was darling in her Christmas dress and really got in to singing with her friends.  

Finally…no one cried!  Liam asked for a remote controlled Ford Raptor, Skyler asked for a giant teddy bear and Presley asked for a book.  Go figure.

Snow in early December!  We woke up this morning to 2 inches of snow on the ground.  It took approximately 3.5 minutes for the kids to be dressed and out the door.  When you compare that to our typical school morning, which takes approximately 45 grueling minutes to get them all dressed and out the door, it is impressive.  Especially since they had to find all their snow gear!  Sledding, giggling, snowboarding, more giggling, trampoline craziness, more sledding, freezing hands, red noses, snowman making and then, finally exhaustion.  That was the first 45 minutes.  Ha ha!

Our elf, Jubel, made all the neighborhood kids hot chocolate.  They discovered him sitting on the deck table with cups of hot chocolate and whip cream all around him.  None of the kids could believe it!  Not a single one of them doubts Santa, or Jubel or the magic of Christmas yet.  So fun.

It always proves to be one of our most fun trips of the year and, thanks to grandma taking Presley overnight and Leif’s old buddy Jesse offering us their condo for the weekend, we were able to do it again!  Skied a beautiful day with the kids who are excelling like you wouldn’t believe.  They did not skip a beat between last season and this one and their additional strength and weight was apparent as they shredded the slopes.  That evening we swam in the pool and the kids met some friends (Denali and Aspen – ha ha!) who are, not surprisingly, CMAC kids.  

It dumped 10 inches on Saturday night which meant that Sunday morning it was every man, woman and child for themselves.  We left the kids back at the condo and skied a solid 2 hours together – probably the number one thing Leif and I like to do together.  The snow was SO good and it felt so rejuvenating to ski hard with a quiet mind only focused on the next turn. The kids hung back, sledded with their new friends and enjoyed their new found responsibility! 

Talk about a jam packed extended Thanksgiving weekend.  Our plan had been to drive to Eugene on Thursday morning but as Wednesday rolled by, a random thought came to me.  I had been wanting to go to Portland with the kids so why not knock half the trip to Eugene off Wednesday night.  We booked a hotel, picked up Skyler from gymnastics and said what the heck!  We rolled in to town at 10:30 at night with tired but excited kids.  Once they saw the hotel room, they got a second wind and no one was asleep before midnight.  What a cool hotel it was!  They even greeted Leif and I with a craft local beer…much needed after the drive! 

We slowly rolled out of bed on Thursday morning and made our way down to the hotel restaurant for an incredible breakfast.  I had planned on going for a run but it was pouring rain outside and the mimosas just looked too good.  We started having a conversation with the kiddos about what Thanksgiving is all about and decided together that we would randomly select a table in the restaurant and purchase their meal…in secret.  The concept of giving without expecting anything in return was not lost on the kids and they loved doing it!  After breakfast, it was on to Eugene.

We got to Eugene just after lunch time and were greeted with the huge smiles of Mary Ellen and Keith.  I love “exposing” the kids to Eugene and to Keith and Mary Ellen’s good energy.  To me, Eugene represents a slower way of life, a hippy lifestyle to some degree and an environment that feels really peaceful.  Keith and Mary Ellen had made up their bedroom for Leif and I and what a treat that was!  The kids loved their set up in the living room with sleeping bags, tents and all.  We went to the skateboard shop, explored the compost pile, took walks, shopped at the local ski shop, took a run along the river and had a wonderful, traditional Turkey meal.  So much fun!

The original plan had been to go to Hood River after Eugene but the weather was really getting in our way.  So, we headed back to Seattle but not before making an overnight stop at the Great Wolf Lodge.  I can’t say this is somewhere I would be dying to go back to, what with the crowds, the slimy pools, and the chaos, but I can also say that all 5 of us had a blast (how could you not when your kids are having so much fun).  Highlights were sending Presley down the waterslide by herself, sneaking Skyler onto the scariest ride and videoing it, and sending the (older) kids out to do the wizard search by themselves in the morning.

We returned to Seattle ready to be home.

Some clients of mine got me a ticket to the Seahawks Game this weekend.  I felt so guilty about going that I bought Leif and Liam tickets as well.  However, I was on the field and they were three seats from the back of the stadium.  SO….at half time, they came down and Liam got to sit with me for the second half. He was super stoked and the Seahawks won so dad was happy.  It was strange how sitting so close made it seem so much less glorified than it seems on TV.  It kind of felt like watching a high school game with oversized teenagers.  LOL.  Liam has no idea how lucky he is to have gotten to sit just inches from the field.  Oh well! How blessed we are to be able to do such things!! 

The kids helped Uncle Mike today at Fred Meyer to collect items for the Basket Brigade – bringing food to families in Kirkland who have less than us.  I was proud of them.  I sometimes worry about their lack of perspective living in upper class Kirkland but, for the most part, they seem to understand how lucky and blessed we are to have all that we do and they all show such gracious hearts at different times.  

Costumes this year were a bit of a cluster.  First Liam came home from shopping with grandma with a costume from the video game Halo.  We don’t even have the game Halo nor would we allow him to play it.  I have no idea who the costume it.  But he was excited.  Then Skyler comes home with this god awful mask and tells me that she is going to be a bloody panda bear…..   What???  I had to hide the mask until Halloween because it was seriously freaking me out every time I looked at it.  

Did I mention that I went to the kids' school to watch their Halloween parade and as everyone was getting dressed and ready, Skyler and I read the directions that said "no scary masks!"  I ran to my car to recover my minions costume that I had brought for myself just in case the kids guilted me in to dressing up and Skyler wore that instead!

Every time I asked Presley what she wanted to be, she came up with something different so we waited until the very end and then she settled on a lion.  She spent all of Halloween correcting people when they would call her cute.  She was very upset.  “I am NOT CUTE!!!  I am SCARY!!” 

Kids trick or treated around the neighborhood as usual and had a great time.  We did our best to decorate the house as scary as possible but competing with the neighbors can be hard!