Grace's Christmas List

Pet mouse

Bell (the kind you ring)

Princess scooter

Sleeping Beauty doll

Peeler for pretend kitchen

Another Oopsie doll

Rock Star Band

My own Christmas tree

Star (for my tree)

Decorations (for the tree)

My own manger scene

Tree stand

Wrapping paper

Decorations (not for the tree)

Sleigh (Like Santa's)

Gingerbread house

Wreath

Sippy cups

Big girl cups

Can of soap

Pizza Night

The third, and final, gathering of Thanksgiving weekend is Pizza Night. Every year we spend the evening at my Uncle Brooks and Aunt Dorothy's house and enjoy the best pizza on Earth. Seriously. I guess I've never been to Italy, so I can't say for sure it's the best on Earth, but it's at least the best in the state of Washington.

Some of my fondest childhood memories involve cooking with my Uncle Brooks, and I love that this tradition is continuing on with my kids.

This year all the girl cousins got new aprons. How cute! (Thanks, Christina!)

Grace making her pizza with Christina

Blowing on it to cool it down

Yummy!!

I asked Grace if she would share some of her pizza with Charlie. At first she told me he could just have her crusts. After she was full, she gave in and let him have one piece.

Uncle Brooks opened a special bottle of wine.

See the date? It was bottled the same year that Kate and I were born. That's some OLD wine! =) (We took a picture of the two of us drinking the wine, but it's on her camera, so you'll have to check her blog!)

Over a year ago, I ate the most amazing dessert at a restaurant. It was a calzone filled with Nutella. I've been thinking about it ever since then, and tonight, Uncle Brooks recreated it for me! It was even better than the original because he made homemade chocolate sauce to drizzle over the top. I wish I had taken a picture, but I was much too busy devouring it. Yummmmmmmmy.

It was another fun night of spending time with family that we don't get to see often enough.

Noodle Night

Thanksgiving is a three day event for our family. Day 2 is Noodle Night. Every year my Mom makes homemade broth from the turkey carcass, then her and my sister roll out enough noodles to feed over 20 people. Friday morning, the kids and I went over to "help" make the noodles.

It really was all about playing in the flour for both kids.

Watching Grandma roll out the dough was pretty exciting, too!

Grace actually got quite good at rolling the dough through the machine. She had her own piece that went through about 30 times.

I had to leave with Charlie before the noodles were cut, but I understand that when they were all complete, just about every square inch of Grace and the kitchen were covered in flour. Grandma and Charlie pose by the noodles

That's a lot of noodles!!

Into the broth! It took 3 big pots to cook all these noodles.

Noodle night is not just about the noodles. It is one of of the only times all year that we get together with most of my Mom's side of the family. Grace and Charlie absolutely adore my cousin's kids, Emily and Katie. Grace was talking about them coming to visit weeks ahead of time. Charlie especially loved playing with Emily, and I think the feeling was mutual.

Thanksgiving Day

We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with Grammy, Bop, Uncle Ryan, and Aunt Lindsay. It was such a fun and relaxing day. We spent most of the afternoon just spending time together, reading books, coloring, and watching "ball".

Grace coloring with Ryan and Lindsay

Mark is always in charge of the turkey. He cooks it tightly wrapped up in foil, and it's always extra juicy!

This is Charlie's new favorite thing to do whenever I try to take his picture. He's such a boy.

The solution? Give him some wine, of course!

Grace is always in charge of putting the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes.

Charlie also wanted to help with a few marshmallows.

Charlie got to help put the friend onions on top of the green bean casserole. He LOVED them!

He also discovered the joy of putting olives on his fingers. I think he ate at least 15 of them.

Thanks Grammy and Bop for such a special day!

We Give Thanks

This year we began a new Thanksgiving tradition. Each night at dinner for the week leading up to Thanksgiving, we each shared something we were thankful for. These things were written on leaves and added to our Thanksgiving Tree. Grace really got into it and came up with things she was thankful for throughout the day. She did such a good job of reminding us to be thankful for the little things...tomatoes (which she doesn't like), forks, baths, and so on. Charlie was all about "people" (and I use that term loosely!) Elmo, Ernie, and all of his grandparents made his list. It was a fun way to spend time thinking about all the ways we've been blessed, and I hope we will continue it on for many years.

Faces

Thanks, Uncle Ryan, for the awesome video!

Catching Up

I realized today that it's been quite awhile since I updated our little blog, so I thought I'd do a little catching up. The kids have been sick and/or possibly contagious quite a bit lately, so we've been spending a lot of time at home. While some days the walls feel like they're closing in, it has actually been a lot of fun to slow down and enjoy playing together.

Charlie has officially found his role as the little brother. (Is it mean for me to say he's getting pesky? Because he is, and I think it's hilarious.) The other night Grace was trying to eat dinner. Charlie walked up next to her and every time she tried to take a bite, he hit her arm so that her fork missed her mouth. He grinned from ear to ear and was definitely very aware of what he was doing. See, pesky, right!?! And so, so funny.

The other day Grace was in time out during dinner. I can't remember why she was there, but it likely had something to do with her Cookie Monster impersonation she loves to do during meals. While she was in time out, which is just around the corner from our table, Charlie wondered off for a moment then came back in, grabbed his water cup with a grin, and went back around the corner. Jeff and I heard Grace whisper loudly, "No Charlie. I meant get my water!" Those two co-conspirators are going to be trouble!

Both kids pretty much amaze me daily with how much they're learning. It seems like Charlie is adding new words to his vocabulary on an hourly basis. A lot of his words relate to the characters on Sesame Street. "Elmo" is usually the first thing he says in the morning when he gets up and it continues all day long. Everyday. The boy is obsessed. When I tell him we can't watch Elmo, he runs to the garage door and says, "Grandma! Grandma! Elmo!" He knows who to go to when he wants something!

Grace is like a little sponge and asks a zillion questions a day ranging from, "Mommy, do I have really big armpits?" to "What happens if the power leaks out of the power lines?" She has started to read simple 3 letter words that follow a pattern like sat, bat, cat, hat, and loves "writing" stories. She'll bring me an entire piece of paper filled with random letters and then read me the story. They are almost always about a princess, but lately she has been writing Bible lessons for church as well.

Grace really loves playing restaurant. Today she made me a cheese and jelly sandwich with salt. She also gave me chocolate with salt. Salt is usually her secret ingredient in everything she makes. Clearly, she's been paying attention while I'm cooking. =)

The other night we were at a real restaurant. The waiter came to our table and started taking our order. Grace loudly proclaimed, "I'd like macaroni and cheese with oranges, please!" then sneakily whispered, "and ice cream." The waiter thought she was pretty hilarious but never did bring her ice cream.

And finally, here are a few recent pictures of the kiddos being their super-cute selves.