Grandpa Santa

My Dad has dressed up as Santa on and off for many years, but last year was the start of a new tradition: Grandpa Santa photos! Izzy sported her new Christmas dress as she played with her Little People Nativity set that Grandma gave her and then the fun began... enjoy!

The Village

Gerald and I started collecting Department 56 Christmas in the City houses 5 years ago. We said that we would buy a new house every year. 5 years later we have 10 houses .... I guess we didn't stick to our original plan! Well Gerald creates a masterpiece on the mantle every year and he spent Saturday evening building the village. Here are a few photos. On Sunday morning when Izzy woke up and got to see it, she was in awe. Oh ... it's going to be a fun Christmas!

This year's addition is a piano sales store. It was a new release this year and we thought it fitting since I play piano!

Black Friday

Our version of Black Friday wasn't shopping (OK - I admit that I tried to go to Target at 7:45 am which was a HUGE mistake because it took me 30 minutes to get up the hill and once I got into the store I walked out immediately because the line was so long!). We decorated the house for Christmas instead!

While Gerald was out riding his motorcycle, Izzy and I ate cookies while I made an eggnog latte - yummy!

We traded out the Halloween decorations for the Christmas ones - Izzy was willing to part with her Halloween Starbucks bears in return for the Christmas ones - there they are spread out all over the floor while she dances in joy. Oh she loves the bears!

Later after the frost had melted, Izzy and I went outside to join Gerald who was hanging the Christmas lights.

We got in a bit of bike riding...


... as well as a bit of garden clean-up

And then it was back inside the house for lunch & nap. While Izzy was snoozing, I finished the tree.

This was my gift from Gerald's trip to Germany in September - we got it working and you can see that it is spinning from the heat of the candles. Pretty cool!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very relaxed day on Thanksgiving at The Beltran house in Bremerton. Gerald pulled out his childhood toys ("they're classics!") and shared with Alex who is very into Transformers, Star Wars, etc. right now. It was pretty cute to see the boys playing - though I'd have to admit it was more Gerald playing and Alex observing ;-).

The girls kicked around in the living room watching a Cake Boss marathon - that show is so addictive! Izzy got in on the boys' toy action and played with a bird of some kind. Later Alex helped her build her train track and Izzy gulped down Marie's bottle of water. Low key and relaxing ... Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sunday in Bremerton

On Sunday I had stamp club, so Gerald took Izzy over to see Lolo and Lola in Bremerton. Marie, Larry, Alex, and Auntie Nila were there as well so they got a chance to visit with the whole family. Reports are that Izzy was very well behaved and she loved the food - as you can see from the photo of her devouring a lumpia upon arrival. She did lots of reading with Marie and Alex.

The Burke Museum

Last Saturday Sellen hosted a free event for families at The Burke Museum, so I took Izzy and my nephew Alex with me. Alex was very well behaved and acted like a responsible big brother when it came to working with Izzy. He held her hand and helped her look at different animals, etc. When he'd venture to do bigger kid things, Izzy would follow along and try to join him. It resulted in frustration for her a few times because she couldn't do things by herself like he could, but it was really cute to watch.

Gerald and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this weekend. On Friday Izzy spent the day & night with my parents and on Saturday my sisters took her to the Seattle Children's Museum and then stayed with her at our house. Gerald & I had almost 48 hours to ourselves! We did miss Izzy - it's going to be hard to leave her for over a week in the Spring when we go to the Caribbean (but we'll manage ;-) ).

We treated ourselves to a night at Willows Lodge in Woodinville. It's surprisingly close to our house but really felt like getting away. We went over early and couldn't check in to our room right away so we headed over to Molbak's and had fun shopping and getting into the Christmas spirit a bit early. When we did get checked-in, we relaxed and then headed over to Barking Frog for a fabulous meal. In the morning we explored the gardens - they grow much of their own produce for Barking Frog and neighboring Herb Farm on site - and they raise chickens and pigs for Herb Farm there too! The gardens are really cool - lots of nice artwork mixed in - they're functional and beautiful. I can only imagine what they look like in the Summer when they're fully alive. If you get a chance to escape, Gerald & I highly recommend Willows Lodge!