Happy Birthday Jesus!

We are having a wonderful Christmas. Hope you all are too.

Christmas Eve day.

And night.

And Christmas day!

8th anniversary getaway

Well it took eight years, but we finally did something more than "date night in" for our anniversary:-) Thanks to Doug and Sharon taking the kids for 2 nights, Craig and I went up to Mt Hood for a little getaway. We went snowboarding/skiing on Sunday which was super fun despite the constant misting (pretty much it was raining on us at Timberline). My first time on my board in about seven years! Getting a respite from the constant job of parenting was great, though of course I missed our girls:-) I have to say that one of the best parts of the weekend was picking the little ones up and seeing Elsie grin ear to ear and clinging on to her daddy.

Oh Christmas tree!

We went to a new tree farm this year with Allen, Eryn, Addison, Paige and Doug and Sharon. I was a fun day to spend with family, but the farm was not our favorite. There was a reindeer barn, Santa, and cocoa. By the time we did all that and got to tree hunting we were tired and hungry and picked one quickly. Most of their Nobles were trimmed and more the classic Christmas tree, which is not my favorite (I like the natural looking Nobles with really sparse branches). But still, our tree is pretty and smells GREAT. Next year this Faulkner family will be returning to our favorite farm where we always find the perfect tree:-)

Sweet Paige-y.

Elsie wonders what is up with this guy?

Reagan wasn't too thrilled to stand on Santa's sleigh...until he gave her a candy cane.  We don't make a point to "visit Santa" with our kids, it's just not our thing, but it was funny seeing the kids reactions.  Katya wouldn't even come onto the porch he was on.  

Addison is a VERY friendly kid!  Plus I think they do the Santa thing every year.

Best shot I could get of the 5 granddaughters. Maybe someone else managed a better one.

Elsie was super tired from missing her nap time   Poor kid has been a wreak all week since.

Looking at the "quack quacks`."

Taking home our tree!

It was a really fun day, and to kick off the season with the family was great.  I have really put aside my extreme anxiety and sadness over our neighbors short selling their house, Craig not getting the Widmer job, and the shooting across the street, and embraced the season.  The girls and I have been listening to lots of crappy Christmas music, doing Christmasy crafts, watching bad Christmas movies, and talking about baby Jesus.  Tis the season!  Love to all, Brenda

Thanksgiving 2012

We had a great time in Olympia for thanksgiving! Grandma made a wonderful traditional dinner which we got to have the next night too, joined by Uncle David and Aunt Toisa. As always the girls had a great time. I think this is one of their favorite places ever:-)

The rain held off on Thursday for some outdoor fun.  It was very cold, though you wouldn't know it from what Miss Katya is wearing.  Crazy kid!  Larry put up a swing in the tree and a flag outside the play house, per Katya's request.  Such a spoiled girl!:-)

The girls said they wanted to sleep in the basement.  It lasted about as long as we expected; about a minute after I left.  Though Reagan and I ended up sleeping down there because her and Katya couldn't quiet down being in the same room.  

Posing for a picture despite the need to pee:-)

Lots of time was spent coloring in the playhouse....

...And in the studio putting up quilt pieces.

After dinner on Thusday the girls were right back out to play in the playhouse.  It was SO fun watching them run back and forth between the house and the playhouse.  Larry have them some little flashlights and boy, was that fun.  This is pretty much how it looked in the dark (Katya with the blue flashlight).

But I like this slightly longer exposure and how the house is lit.

I just realized, I have no pictures of Elsie in here!  She had fun too.  She spent a lot of time going up and down the stairs in grandma's house, and also some time in the playhouse.  It was so wet out, she didn't get to crawl around outside much.