Christmas Activities

For Thanksgiving and Christmas we knew we would be on our own so we planned lots of fun activities to help us get into the spirit of the season.

 The Ward Christmas party is always a good place to feel that Christmas spirit!  We enjoyed a yummy breakfast, planned to give service, and received a visit from jolly ol' St. Nick.  There were no tears this year, but no one quite mustered the courage to look Santa directly in the eyes.

 

 Tate told Santa that he wanted a Lego Chima set, a scooter, and a shovel (???, that must be from his Wood man roots).

 Grant told Santa he wanted a laser gun, nothing else.  This was a new revelation to us, maybe slightly influenced by the kids in line next to him :)

 We upgraded our tree this year and got a really tall, bright one.  I actually was able to get quite a few Christmas decorations on super sale after Christmas last year, so it was fun to decorate the house together.

 The boys loved decorating the tree.  There is something so sweet about little pajama-clad boys getting excited and putting ornaments on their Christmas tree.

I told you that tree was bright!  It was almost jarring to look directly at it.
I almost expected it to go up like a Roman candle at any moment but I'm happy to report that it made it through the Season without even a whiff of the sharp tang that heralds the coming of a brilliant electrical fire.

 

 We enjoyed hot chocolate and marshmallows on several occasions.  It just wouldn't be Christmas without them!

 We were able to enjoy the "Journey to Bethlehem" for the 2nd year at the 7th Day Adventist Church.  They do a great job making it feel like you are a traveler in Bethlehem when Christ was born.  The Roman guards might be a slightly overzealous in their heckling of us "Jews" though, seeing how Tate only remembers "those guys on horses who yelled at us", but overall the production is great and a tradition I would repeat every year if we stayed here.

We enjoyed watching Grant's "Holiday performance" (because the school might offend someone by saying the C-word during Christmas).  He looked so handsome in his church clothes and recited his part perfectly!

 

 You can see him holding the mic right before his speaking part.  For some reason we didn't get a photo of him giving his part, but rest assured it was moving and poetic :)

 This is my attempt at a family picture after Grant's performance.  At least Grant is looking.  The other two couldn't peel their eyes off the model bull elk in the glass case.  In their defense, it was pretty cool.

 

 Tate also had a Christmas performance this year.  Since he goes to a Methodist preschool, the program was Christ based, so that was nice.  The kids were cute and did great with their songs.

 

 Tate, always the ham bone.

 

 We all enjoyed cookies after his program, and someone's pregnant belly photo bombed us.

 Another Christmas tradition is eating, I mean, making gingerbread houses.  I tried something different this year and used melted sugar to hold the houses together.  It's a little tricky to work with and doesn't taste great if you try to eat that part of the house later, but man does it hold those houses together!  It's the concrete of the candy world. 
Just melt sugar in a pan then spread it on the edges of the graham crackers and stick them together.  When the sugar cools the cracker will break before the sugar joint will- a welcome change from last year when we used frosting and spent the whole time trying (unsuccessfully) to keep our houses from collapsing.

Grant was very careful in designing and decorating his house and the finished product was almost too cute to eat!  Almost...

 Luke spent the majority of the night shoveling candy into his mouth.  What can you really expect when a two year old is sitting at a table literally covered in candy?

 

Tate and Luke with Tate's and my finished houses.  Pretty cute, huh?

 

 Ryan took a lesson from Luke's book and didn't waste any time with the decorating part of things.  It seems that Ryan can overcome his dislike for frosting when M&M's are involved.

 There are always extra treats lying around during the Holidays, and on some occasions Luke did whatever he could to get his hands on them.  One day he ran off and disappeared after his bath.  After a minute of trying to find him in the bedrooms, I finally discovered that he was hiding under the kitchen table with a plate of goodies that he was about to devour.  Mean old Mom has to ruin everything!

 A new activity we tried this year was to attend the Luminaria at the local arboretum.  There were thousands of lighted candles in white bags illuminating a mile long path through the arboretum.

 It was a fun experience and I would also add it to my list of traditions if we were to stay here.

 We did have to keep our eye on Luke.  Lit candles in white bags are very appealing to two year olds.

 There was even hot cocoa, cookies, and live Christmas music to enjoy afterward .  Fun times!

Long Legs

 I was just looking through some pictures on my phone and came across these forgotten gems.  Tate was trying on a pair of Grant's PJ's and the effect was quite comical.

 It makes his body look almost cartoonish. 

This picture is to tell you that we had a fun Thanksgiving, even though these two Indians look a little disgruntled at the moment. 

San Diego Trip

I am so late and behind in all my posts that I have been forgetting about important events!  Like the important event of Ryan and I enjoying a completely kid-free weekend in San Diego this past October.  Ryan had an ortho conference to attend and I decided to join him for some fun in the sun.  My kind sister watched the kids for us (again! we owe her big time!) and we enjoyed a weekend of relaxation, beach time and delicious food.  Well, Ryan was actually at the conference all day so I enjoyed the relaxation and beach time and we both enjoyed the food.

 Ryan found a great house in a historic district of San Deigo and we rented it with several ortho friends from over the years.  Unfortunately, no other wives were able to make it (which would have given me more company during the day).  However, I did enjoy being able to sleep in as late as I wanted, go for 2 hour exploring runs in the beautiful weather, hang out at the beach, and basically do whatever I wanted during the day.

 Ryan and his buds Rick, Sam and David.  We missed Craig in this picture.  It was fun to see everyone and I know Ryan enjoyed catching up with his pals and talking ortho.

 This is a glimpse of the back yard/patio where we stayed.  The picture doesn't do it justice, as there are stairs in corners leading to hidden patios and the second floor of the house.  The vine-covered walls became a waterfall at the push of a button and that blue pad under the second story patio is the cover of the hot tub.  It was awesome! 

We spent some time trying to find some of the best places to eat while we were there.  One night we got some cake to go from Extraordinary Desserts and could barely finish 1/2 of each piece, they were that extraordinary and rich (and $10/slice).  No really, they were freaking good!  We had gone to a highly rated Italian restaurant earlier that night that about knocked my socks off (best pork chop of my life!), so the cake was a great finish.

 We had to visit "Hash House a Go-Go" for breakfast before flying out the last day.  They are known for their tasty and HUGE breakfast servings.  Ryan got the french toast made with three slices of 2 inch thick banana infused Amish bread, fresh fruit, pecans, and a grilled banana on top.  It was the best french toast we have ever had!  Erin got the fancy-shmancy eggs benedict- a bed of mashed potatoes with biscuits and gravy in the middle and a batch of eggs on top, covered in a delicious tomatoey-zippy hollandaise sauce.  It was a savory dream come true!  And if you know Ryan, you know that he pushed through and cleared off both our plates even though that was enough food to kill a lesser man.  But he's an American and he finishes what he starts. 

 I'm not going to lie, this was one of the highlights of the trip.  I just love laying under a hot sun on the beach, reading, people watching, or just listening to the waves and seagulls.  It's been quite some time since I've just gone to the beach and sat, not trying to keep a child from drowning or eating sand, so it was quite enjoyable:)

I was soaking up the weather and foliage on my exploring runs (you can't find places like this in Yakima!).  If only it wasn't so crowded, expensive, and liberal, I think San Diego would be about the perfect place to live!

Hobbies

 Grant had me take some pictures of his Lego creations to send in for a Lego contest.  Both he and Tate can get pretty creative with the Legos and I'm often impressed with what they come up with.  Of course, most creations are usually a combination vehicle/weapon, but what else would a pair of 4 and 6 year old boys create? 

Happy Halloween!!

 The Super Hero Squad descended upon the Wood household this Halloween.  They came asking for candy and would not take no for an answer. (Grant = Superman; Luke = Robin; Tate = Batman)

 They even cut out, dug into, and decorated pumpkins to show they meant business.

 We knew we were no match for powers like these!

 So off they went into the night in search of not tricks, but treats!

 Success!!

Malcolm Gladwell!  What are you doing in my bathroom?!

Day at the Pumpkin Patch

 Back in Fall, we headed out to a local pumpkin patch to play in the hay and pick out our pumpkins.  I took the fancy camera with me to try to get some fancy pictures.  Now, for your viewing enjoyment....

Those are some handsome lads!

Luke turned two in September

 That's right!  On September 20th, our sweet little Lukie entered his second year of life.  He continues to be the happiest, cutest, sweetest, funnest little 2 year old there is!  Except, maybe on the rare occasion when someone takes the toy he wants or cuts him off from any more ice cream.  Then that person will, as they say, reap the whirlwind.  Hey, no one can be the happiest and sweetest boy all the time :)

This is the first birthday when I wasn't able to make a fancy cake for one of the boys.  Now, I can't remember what was going on but I must have been pretty busy.  As you can see here, Luke was pleased as punch to get his store-made cupcake-cake (free from Wrays Supermarket here in town, awesome!), so it all worked out great.  I'll make up for it with his 3 year old cake (at least that's what I tell myself).

 This is such a fun age where Luke enjoyed every minute of being the center of attention for his birthday.  He wore his excitement all over his face and could hardly stop smiling that sweet smile of his.  Plus, he got to wear his American flag cape so it was a real red letter day!

Now for some Luke facts:

Luke could eat nothing but milk and fruit and be a very happy boy.  Lately, his fruit of choice has been "little oranges", of which one is never enough.  I try to cut him off after 2 or 3, just to help save his bum from the acidic after effects of so much citris.

Luke has a deeper voice than Grant or Tate did at this age, but he also speaks with a lot of animation, articulation, and clear facial expressions.  It's so fun to hear the things he has to say.

Luke is a caring and concerned little brother.  Whenever he gets a snack to eat, he always wants to get another to bring to Tate.  He also is the first to go give a hug to a crying, hurt brother and say "I sorry" or "don't be sad". The other day he comforted a crying Tate with, "is okay. You smart! I smart too!"

Luke also has a mischievous streak and has been known to randomly hit his brothers on the head with a stick or pull hair (thankfully the hair pulling has decreased a lot from previous months!)

Luke LOVES reading books before his nap and bedtime.  He will often have a favorite book that he will request every day for a couple weeks at a time.  We've gone through weeks of George and Jumpy Squirrel, Halloween books, Nursery Rhymes, Farm Animals, Cars... the list can go on.  I'm always grateful when he is finally ready for new books after a couple weeks, just to switch things up!

Even at this tender age, Luke seems to be interested in older women.  He loves playing with some of the girls a year or two older than him that we babysit, as well as his older girl cousins.  It may be because they often dote on him or maybe he just likes a more mature lady :)

Luke continues to be a mama's boy (much to my enjoyment) and often still likes to cuddle for a little bit after his nap.  He has started to occasionally push me away and say "no kisses!" if I'm kissing his chubby cheeks for too long, so I take my cuddles and kisses when I can get them (which is thankfully still often).

Luke is extremely friendly and loves to smile and wave and say "Hi!" to random people.  If anyone at the store stops to say Hi to him, he will never disappoint, but always gives a wave and a huge grin that looks like "go ahead, try to resist this smile!"

We love our little Lukie so much and are so grateful to have him in our family.  He brings so much fun, happiness and energy to our home!  

 Luke's big present...a super huge radio flyer tricycle (which he has yet to figure out how to ride, it is pretty big though)

 Luke will just stick to the things he knows for now.  Like pushing the firetruck while the boys play with his new toy.

I love when they all do something together.  Such cute brothers they are!