Merry Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas everybody! I hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday that’s full of family, friends and some relaxation. We hosted pre-Christmas dinner for the fam. It was a full house and we had a lot of fun. Erik works shift work at a transfer station so we made the most of our 3 hour window for family time. The photo below is classic Christmas; half of us have our eyes closed, Jamisen is ducking down on his chair and we barely got posed before the timer went off.  Believe or not, that was our best photo option out of all of them.

For dinner I made lasagna, cauliflower & olive potatoes and chickpea and squash tagine. If you love salmon as much as I do, you have to try out this Lemon Butter Salmon recipe. It’s incredibly simple and my favorite way to prepare salmon. So delicious! It’s my go-to recipe. The hot sauce really gives it an extra flavor kick. We'll be having that at some point in the next few days.

Santa visited the house this year. Santa is Uncle Weston (pictured in the dinner photo above). We painted his beard white with spray-on hairspray (which I’m pretty sure is just spray paint; thanks for endangering your health for the kiddos!). As soon as Jamisen saw Santa, he said, “I knew you would come!”

This year, Chris and I decided to give Lily and Jamisen one big toy each, along with a smaller toy. Between our gifts and presents from family, these kids have plenty of toys already.

 For the big presents, Lily got new kitchenette (she loves pretending to cook!) and Jamisen got a new truck.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours; may your holiday be bright, happy, and joy filled.

All I Want for Christmas

The kids were so happy to visit with Santa at City Hall. Lily is in an amazing handknit sweater that was originally given to Jamisen. It has worn beautifully so now Lily gets to enjoy it.

 

Lily doesn't understand what Santa is really about so she didn't have much to ask Santa for.
But she sure was happy to hang out with Santa to talk to. We hope this is a temporary aberration and she doesn't decide that sitting on men's laps and whispering into their ears is a normal and good thing.

Jamisen saw Santa and immediately knew what to do. He hopped right up and said, "Santa, I want a truck that has pedals and a red and a green go/stop button." Parents heard this and scrambled.

Lily was very enamored by the tea set and really wants one. Grandma has one for her for when she's a little older.

The other day, Lily ate play dough and kept eating it and eating it so finally I said, "Lily, if you keep eating that, you'll get a tummy ache!" She kept eating it and pretty soon, Jamisen started crying. When I asked him why, he said "Because if she gets a tummy ache, she might DIE! So, I want her to quit eating it." Oh .... sweetie. 

First Horseback Rides

Lily and Jamisen recently had their first horse experience! We went to a farm out in the county that was offering pony rides for a holiday event.

 

Lily did amazing and had a huge smile on her face for much of the hose ride. We've all heard the theory that little girls that are given horses at a young age delay dating boys because all of their time, money and effort goes into the care and feeding of a horse (and not a boy!). I did look for proof of this theory on the internet and couldn't find any actual studies that said that but if that's the case, we're on a good track with Lily given how excited she was about riding the horse!  

We really appreciated the emphasis on safety with the helmets and multiple girls hanging onto the little ones. The horses may have been kid sized but they were still way up there in height!

 

Jamisen was very excited to get on the horse but he was a little more unsure about the entire horse riding thing; perhaps because, unlike his younger sister, he could follow the logic of "What happens if I fall off" to its logical conclusion. She'll get there but for now, it's fine for her to believe the ground is soft and adults always will catch her when she falls.

When he got off the horse, Jamisen did exclaim, "That was fun!" Neither child has asked to ride a horse again though Jamisen and Lily have requested that we go visit our friend Jody who has horses on her property.

After the horseback rides, we stayed bundled up and went to the 'ZipLine Park'. Alas, the zipline was broken so the children had to content themselves with other slightly less dangerous but, still fun, activities like rock jumping and climbing.

It's exciting to see Jamisen's progression on the climbing merry-go-round. Just last year, he never would have been so brave to attempt climbing the ropes. Lily tried to climb them as well but fell flat on her back from a few rungs up. She recovered quickly from her surprise. Our kids are true Nordic vikings and they happily play in the cold until they're shivering and on the verge of hypothermia. Awww, cute little Vikings.

A Boys Day at Cirque

It's turning into an annual event - the train ride up to Vancouver, BC with our dear friend Heather and her son Sasha - followed by a show under the big tent. Cirque du Soleil is a whirring feat of gymnastic, art, live music and generally a cooler and most awesomely colorful circus experience.

The train station is always a fun and exciting experience for the boys. It's equally exciting for the Moms because to take our boys over the border requires extra paperwork (notarized!) from the Dads and there is lots of extra passport scrutiny.

There is also lots of waiting at the train station since we have to arrive 45 minutes early. Thank goodness the boys have such curious minds and love to entertain themselves with fun little nonsensical games, exploring and talking. This time, the conductor sent us all outside in the cold to wait a good 30 minutes for the train (in addition to not allowing us to take our fruit'n'nut Starbucks samplers over the border). The boys were remarkably patient in line and made us proud.

Up in Vancouver, the show was fantastic and held the boys' attention the entire time. We also were able to play off some steam before the train ride home by climbing in the park. We ended up being the very last off the train so had even more lines to wait in Vancouver BC - to the point that we had to dash into a convenience store and get packaged food (tuna fish for Jamisen and me) to eat for lunch.

 

This is a beautiful picture of Lily and Jamisens Great Great Grandparents on my Dad's side. Leah and Louis Faiola; Leah was a nurse as was Louis (who also served in WWII). Lily's middle name is Leah after her Great Great Grandma and Jamisen's middle name is Louis after his Great Great Grandpa. I remember them fondly, especially the many afternoons Erik and I spent at their home after they moved to Chehalis, Washington from California. Also, check out Grandma Leah's hair! Now we know where Jamisen gets his red hair, right? =)

 

 

The deer are 'rutting' in the yard right now. You might not be able to see it in the photo but those are both bucks with a full set of horns. It's crazy so see them wandering through the yard like that. We've definitely instructed the kiddos to stay inside when they see them.

Work for both Chris and I is fine - normal - progressing. I'm headed to DC this week for a advocacy trip to work on FDA legislation issues and Chris just got back from Saudi a few weeks back. I continue to spend the bulk of my time on planning, strategy, culture and pushing new products and new initiatives like, Handmade Beauty Box.