Christmas Day

Christmas morning started early in the Walters house this year. Charlie has been teething and sleep has been difficult. He awoke at 5 am and was done for the night, so he and I got up, put the cinnamon rolls in the oven, turned on the Christmas lights and waited for Jeff and Grace. An hour or so later, Grace woke up, and the fun began....except that by then Charlie was ready for a nap. We opened stockings, ate breakfast, and then put Charlie out of his misery and let him sleep. We went ahead and let Grace open a couple of presents, which worked out great because she actually had time to play with and enjoy them instead of trying to rush through all the gifts. (Which is definitely her natural tendency!) Once Charlie was up, we finished opening presents then headed over to Grandma and Boppo's house for some time with my family. We ate lots of yummy food, opened presents, and laughed a lot. It was such a fun day!

Charlie checks out the piles of snow outside while we wait for Grace and Jeff to wake up.Time to open stockings!Charlie added A LOT of new vehicles to his toy collection this Christmas!We gave Grace a new American Girl baby doll whom she named "Mia". Within about 30 seconds of opening Mia, Grace had taken off her cute outfit and undone her perfect piggy tales. She loves putting barrettes in her hair and changing her outfit often. (Actually, she has me change the outfit often.) Her and Mia are now inseparable.

Grace snuggles with Mia and her other dolls in the Bilibo that Grammy and Bop gave her...another new favorite toy!

Grace talks about being a doctor when she grows up all the time, so we had to get her a doctor kit. Here she is giving Mia a check-up.

Charlie got his first basketball hoop.

Charlie snuggled in with Auntie Kate as he continued to recover from his early morning.

Grace loved getting to spend the afternoon with her cousin Jake.

Look at all those stockings! Our family gets bigger every year!

My dad always reads the Christmas Story from the Bible before we open presents.

Stockings!

Hmmm..Charlie sucks on a bottle of wine while sitting on the garbage sack. I'll go ahead and throw my name in there for the Mother of the Year Award! =)

Grace opened Mia's twin brother and named him Micah. (It was almost Melvin...thanks Auntie Kate for that suggestion!!) Micah has also become part of the family and can be found wherever Grace is. He, too, gets to wear lots of barrettes in his hair. Charlie took a nap break during the present opening, but woke up to lots of cuddles and a fun new push wagon!

What a great day!! Thanks Mom and Dad for all the fun gifts and special memories!

Christmas Eve

Despite the piles and piles of snow outside, we made it over to Jeff's parent's house for our traditional Christmas Eve celebration. We had a great time just spending time together, eating lots of delicious food, and exchanging gifts. We had planned on going to church in the afternoon, but because of the weather and a tired baby, we opted to stay home. Jeff's mom put together a fun little program so that we could still spend some time focusing on the real reason we celebrate, the birth of Jesus. Grace especially loved the carols we sang while Grammy played the piano. (You can catch a glimpse of it in the video below.)

Charlie snuggles with Grammy

Grace was so proud to wear her fancy black coat. She told me several times that she was "a lady" while wearing it.

Grace and Jeff share a moment on the stairs.

Grammy and Grace lead us in some Christmas carols.

Bop snuggles with Grace and Charlie.

Grace loves singing those carols!

Uncle Ryan and (soon-to-be-Aunt!) Lindsay have started a really fun tradition...Christmas crackers! Inside each one were paper hats and little toys. We all had fun wearing our colorful hats.

I love how this picture makes Grace's stocking look as big as she is. It is quite big, but not that big!

Jeff helps Charlie dig into his stocking.

Charlie looked pretty cute trying on Uncle Ryan's antlers.

Thank you Grammy and Bop for such a fun Christmas Eve!!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Fun in the Snow!

The wind finally stopped yesterday, so Grace and I headed out for some fun in the snow!

Climbing Mount Walters

Who needs a sled?

Making snow angels on an incline

A view of our house. I still think it's so strange how some spots have no snow and some have several feet.

Warming up with some hot cocoa

This is a sight I've never seen before. This morning, the plow came by, scooped up the snow off the street, and loaded it into a dump truck to haul it off. It was fun watching the snow get scooped up, and we wished Grace and Charlie's cousin Jacob could have been here to watch the big trucks! We thought it was great until the plow left a new 3 foot pile at the end of our driveway! Poor Jeff is out digging us out again!

The Bear Cave

We've been having some wild weather around here lately, but last night certainly took it took a whole new level. Jeff and I began to worry a little when we received an email from our city asking residents to prepare for "prolonged power outages and structural damage" due to a forecast for high winds. (The news channel actually specifically named our neighborhood as one that would be hardest hit and said there could be hurricane level winds.) We endured a 5 day power outage 2 winters ago, and were not looking forward to doing it again! On top of that, the temperatures outside were below freezing, so losing heat would not be fun. Sure enough, yesterday in the early evening, the winds picked up. There wasn't actually any snow falling, but the air was filled with twirling snow being blown by the wind. Before long the whole house was literally rocking. Jeff and I both agree that we have never experienced winds so powerful. BUT-we were prepared!! When power went out a little before 10 pm, we set up "the bear cave" as Jeff named it. Jeff hung an old sheet from the ceiling to block of the section of the house with the fireplace. We set up Charlie's pack 'n play and got out sleeping bags and quilts. I slept downstairs and "babysat" the fire while Jeff went to sleep in our bed to listen for the kids. About 2 in the morning, Grace came wondering down and spent the rest of the night on the couch with me. Jeff and Charlie came down a couple hours later and finished the night sleeping by the fire. By the morning, the power was back on! HOORAY!!

Here's the Bear Cave in the morning

I ventured out into the cold this morning to see what the snow had done. There were huge snow drifts all over.

It's hard to tell in these pictures, but outside the front door it looks like a snow bowl. The edges go up about a foot and a half, but there is no snow at all in the middle.

This snow drift goes the complete distance of the front of our house. Again, it's hard to tell in the picture, but the drift goes at least a third of the way up the garage door. Too bad our cars are inside the garage! I guess Jeff has some shoveling to do before we go anywhere!

This is what the drift looks like from inside the garage. There is this strange hole in the middle of it. Grace immediately called it a bear cave and asked to go play in it.

I was so thankful to have power this morning, that I used all that good ol' electircity to make some snowflake shaped pancakes. (Okay, I could have still made pancakes on our gas range if the power was out, but I probably wouldn't have been in the mood!) Grace had hers with jam, can you tell?!?

9 Months Old

I can hardly believe that Charlie has already reached the nine month point. Time goes so quickly! (And yet sooooo slowly some days. =0) He has learned a lot of new tricks lately. He is learning some sign language, can show you he's "so big!", and will show you his tongue when asked. Our favorite new skill is that he scoots around on his bottom. It's quite hilarious to see his little legs kick as he pivots all around. He has started eating finger foods and is finally sleeping unswaddled. I think we may have set a record for the longest swaddled baby, but whatever gets you more sleep, right?!? People ask me all the time if he's crawling yet. Nope! And I have to say I'm not in any hurry. Chasing one child around is enough for me! He is getting quite good at staying up on all fours and has started rocking a little like he's thinking about crawling. I'm just hoping he waits until the Christmas tree is down to figure it out. He continues to be a happy and sweet baby, but has also learned to let us know when he's not happy about something. It's so fun watching Gracie and him interact. He LOVES his big sister and thinks that pretty much everything she does is hilarious. (Except for maybe shaking pom-poms in his face or taking his toys away.) We are so blessed to be the parents of this sweet and fun little boy!

9 month stats:

31.75 inches (the average length of a 17 month old)

19 pounds, 14 ounces (25% for his age)

"Yummmm...it's fun feeding myself!"

Ready, set, go! (Almost!)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

And the busiest! We've been having so much fun getting ready for Christmas. Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks.

We went to cut down our tree in Carnation the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Grace had been asking when it was time to start decorating since all the store decided in was Christmas in October, so we got right on it once Thanksgiving was over!

Grace built her first gingerbread house. (And I let her eat her first gumball on accident!)

Grace and Jeff went to the tree lighting ceremony in Snoqualmie. This is a picture of her before they left. I'm not sure why she's hiding in the tree.

We went to visit Santa at the mall. Here we are waiting in line. Neither of the kids really liked sitting with Santa, but there wasn't a major meltdown...this time.

We made cookies with Grandma. This is the second year we've done this with Auntie Kate and Jacob. It's a really fun new tradition! (Jake was much more involved this year than last. =0)

We went to a party with Grammy and Bop at The Maydenbauer Bay Yacht Club where they are members. Santa was there! Grace refused to sit on his lap. Charlie started out okay, but ended up getting pretty freaked out by the old guy. Who can blame him the way he's looking at him in that picture!