The week

Here's what we've been up to:

Christmas Baking

We've started some Christmas baking!

Pacific Northwest Ballet Nutcracker

 Kevin and Lauren went to the PNB Nutcracker this afternoon. Lauren was SO excited to go and begged to wear "dangly" earrings so she could be fancy. 

She was feeling pretty cool in moms scarf and earrings. 

They went to Racha Thai for dinner first, which is one of Lauren's favorites. 

 Photo Ops!

 So serious

 She couldn't wait to tell me about their seats on the balcony, she knew I would've hated it because it was so high. 

 She is starting to look so grown up! 

They had such a great time, Lauren came home and was going on and on about the show. I could tell she thought it was so magical and felt pretty darn special to have dad all to herself. 

Our Week

 Ben has been obsessed with these gold glasses he got at a birthday party last week. He wore them for a few days straight and insisted that he could see better with them on.

 Lauren is LOVING her new gymnastics place and learning a lot. 

 She was over the moon excited when they invited her to be on their beginner team starting in January. I don't know if I've ever seen her happier, it was quite a moment. 

 Had fun watching ELF in our Christmas jammies. 

 Like father, Like son

 We went to watch the lights at Evergreen Church again (which we will no doubt do many more times this month!). 

 The lights are so pretty and the kids love the hot chocolate. 

 Hayley and her friend Erika came with us. 

 The kids had so much fun with them. They babysat while Kevin and I went to a Christmas party. 

Super fun night! 

Christmas with Grandpa Fred

 We had dinner at Nana & Pa's tonight and had to take a few group shots. Nearly impossible to get a good shot of these crazies. 

 Every year Grandpa Fred takes the kids to Target and lets them pick out their Christmas gifts. It is pure heaven to them and always takes them FOREVER to pick the perfect thing. But it's pretty great and something they look so forward to and will always remember. 

The girls got matching horses, Ben got a new Hex Bug track, and Carson got some "inja" Turtle swords and movie. 

Lucky kids! 

Tree

 This year we went to Home Depot to get our tree. It goes against pretty much everything I believe...but sometimes easy trumps everything else and this year it did. The kids still thought it was fun. Plus they got to ride in the back of Pa's truck in the parking lot which I'm pretty sure was the highlight of their day. They thought they were so wild. I actually felt like the wild one allowing this:) 

December 1st!

 The kids were excited to wake up and find that Candy Cane had arrived! 

 They each got a special gift this morning, which they couldn't wait to open. 

 Lego Advent Calendars! Each day they get a new lego piece to complete a holiday scene. 

 Then we went to Bell Square to visit Santa, along with 1/2 of the Eastside. 2+ hours later we finally got to talk to the big man. 

 Thank goodness for iphones!

 Checking out Santa's Workshop. 

They were so cute and actually waited really patiently. Santa even pulled Kevin aside and complimented him on our kids manners...this is huge around here. It was a great visit and totally worth the wait!

A day with Grandpa Fred

 Yesterday we spent the day with Grandpa Fred. We went to Country Village where we were greeted by all sorts of chickens and ducks. 

 The kids rode the ponies. Lauren's pony was named Stacey. 

 Ben's was Charlie. 

 They had a great time. 

 After Country Village we went to Red Robin then to Evergreen Church to watch the light display. This year they set up toy trains and a walking path with lights. It's so beautiful! 

We had such a fun day kicking off the Christmas season!