Bad Winter

We had a terrible winter.  We had snow constantly from before we left for Oregon for Christmas until mid March.  It just kept coming and there was no place to put it.  Thank goodness when Bill and Leslie moved they left us their snow blower!!!   The snow piles are taller than Maddy.

 

  Inside for some hot chocolate:

Stuck inside we made princesses out of play-doh.  One of these is Ariel (with a fin), one is Rapunzel with long hair and one is Cinderella with glass slippers.  Can you guess which is which??

Dare I say the snow is rather pretty??

Family

Maddy got to meet some of Rob's family for the first time.  Grandma Lucy and Maddy had a great time.  Maddy got to spend a lot of time with Hannah and is just in love.  We had Christmas dinner with Geoff's family and it was wonderful.  We each had a "popper" and inside was a hat to wear, a toy and some jokes.  It was a great time!!

Meeting baby Eli

We drove to Seattle for the day to meet our new niece, Elizabeth Grace.  She is such a good baby and just adorable.  Maddy kept saying that she was going to meet her baby....

Christmas day prep

One of the neat things about being in Oregon for Christmas is being able to go to the park!!  Pretty sure we don't have too many pictures in a park at Christmas time.  Maddy decorated some cookies to bring to the family and to leave out for Santa.  She had to check with dad the next morning to make sure that he ate them all. 

The Grotto

We went to a place called The Grotto to see their display of lights and Christmas activities.  We went with Geoff's family and had a wonderful time.  This is what the website says about the Grotto:
The Grotto’s Christmas Festival of Lights
Friday the day after Thanksgiving through December 30th
Our celebration of Christmas begins the day after Thanksgiving with the opening of our most popular event, The Christmas Festival of Lights. With over 500,000 lights, 150 choral performances, a petting zoo, carolers, puppet shows and hot chocolate this is a special event for the whole family.

 Large nativity set, Maddy just loved this.

 Not as big of a fan of the petting zoo

 The beautiful wonderfully lit paths.

Christmas

Yes, I'm a little behind...  just getting to Christmas.  It was our first Christmas in Oregon so I have to get these pics up, even two months too late....

 Big girl pulling her own suitcase

 

 

 Playing with a new tea set with Grandma

 

 

 Playing with Dudley

 

 

 Multnomah Falls, just outside of Portland. 

 

 

 The crazy neighbor who's lights are set to music and the attraction for many,

just across the street from Grandma's house. 

 

 

Shopping with Grandma

Christmas decor and fun

Well, we've almost made it to Christmas...  Almost a month behind here!  Maddy loved helping decorate the house and enjoyed all the Christmas decorations.  I was pretty brave and put up my Dickens's Village this year, she played with it a little and I didn't put out anything that wasn't replaceable. 

 Her playing with the village just after putting it out.

 My copy of a pinterest picture for a fireplace mantle decoration.  I moved the E up after seeing this picture.  I'm going to add a few more silver/white things for next year.

 Enjoying the snow!

Rob's work party was a "ugly sweater party" and since finding a sweater to fit him in a short time frame seemed impossible I went to the party store near us.  I thought this seemed like Rob.  I also wore Santa socks and a mistle toe bobble headband to win us a prize!

Rapunzel play

The theatre group that put on the "Fairy Tale ball" also does plays that change every couple of months.  December was Rapunzel and I thought she would really like it.  She did!  She sat well, got a little scared when the witch stole the baby and laughed with the group.  There were many large groups and we were the only "individual" pair.  I guess that's what you find on a random week day.

Early Christmas downtown

As we were traveling to Oregon for Christmas this year we celebrated Christmas with my mom and siblings when they were in town for the Santa breakfast.  The kids have so much fun together.

 The kids all opened personal suitcases and ran around the condo like crazy pulling them.

 They decorated Christmas cookies

Matching PJ's....  just love these girls!