Zoolights

I know I am way behind on my blog, but I am going to try to gradually get caught up.
Somehow, we had never made it to zoolights before and I was deteremined to get there this year, so on a rare nonrainy night, we headed down there. However, most of Portland had the same idea. The line to get to the parking lot was so long, we headed back to the max station and rode max down. The kids loved that part as much as zoolights. Then the line to get in was incredibly long, but the line to buy a membership was nonexistent, so I bought us a membership and they gave me the tickets for zoolights, which enabled us to bypass the line, yay! It was really cold, but we had a good time walking around and seeing the lights. I think the kids favorite part though was coming home and having hot chocolate.

Swingset

We have been wanting something for the kids to play on in the backyard ever since we moved in, but we could never find something that would fit our small space. I finally found a little kit for a small swingset last summer and was all ready buy it, but when Matthew looked at it, he said he could build something way better than that. So he designed and built a swingset that would maximize the space we had and give more for the kids to do. It turned out awesome and the kids love it. I think it was really an excuse for Matthew to buy some tools! It took a few months and he finished it right in time for the rainy winter to hit, so we are looking forward to spring when the kids can use it more.

Santa Downtown

On a day off of school we went downtown to see Santa.

 The girls' favorite part was riding the escalators. There are 5 floors

We attempted a little shopping in one store where we found some good deals, but my friend and I got some looks with the 7 kids running around, a baby, and two strollers. At lunch we heard the girls say, "This is the best day ever!" That made it all worth it.

Preschool Co-op

Nicole has been doing a co-op preschool with 5 other friends. It was my turn to host for the first 2 weeks in December. It was so fun to see them interact with each other and Nicole absolutely loved having it at our house. They are all great kids and played so well together.

The theme this month was winter, so we did lots of fun winter themed crafts and activities.

Here they are trying on hats, scarves, and gloves.

We made santa pizzas for snack one day. The ham was supposed to be the hat and they used mini pepperoni and olives to make the face.

We had a special Christmas snack: graham crackers with icing and m and ms to put on top.

We're looking forward to our turn next time, but in the meantime I'm looking forward to my quiet afternoons again!

Christmas Dress Comparison

Over the years, we have accumulated a lot of Christmas dresses. Last Sunday Nicole and Ashley wore matching dresses we'd gotten for Emily and Angela years ago and I realized they were the same age except Nicole is 6 months older than Emily was. I've always thought that Nicole looks like Emily and Ashley looks like Angela so I took a picture thinking they would look really similar, but then I looked at the picture from 2004 and realized they look way different. They look like sisters, but they are all unique.

Emily and Angela 2004

Nicole and Ashley 2010 

Can I Just Freeze Time?

I think these pictures say it all.

How will I choose?

More family pictures to come, but just had to share these. Thank you Megan!

Snow Day in November

Two days before Thanksgiving we woke up to this "snowstorm" and school was cancelled. It doesn't look like much, but the roads were pretty icy and people here don't know how to drive in it. The street was icy enough that the kids had fun pulling each other around in the sled. They had a fun morning outside!

Disneyland Vacation

Last week we went to California to spend a few days in Disneyland and a little visit to the beach with my sister's family. It was a surprising 100 degrees at Disneyland our first two days and in the 90's the other days! It was nice to be in the sun coming from cold, rainy Oregon, but it was a little too hot for a theme park. However, it was a perfect time to go since it wasn't crowded and there were short lines everyday. It was Matthew and the girls' first time to Disneyland and we all had a blast. The girls were very brave and went on every ride they were tall enough for. Emily and Angela's favorites were Tower of Terror and Space Mountain! I think I was more scared on Tower of Terror than they were. On Friday, we took Nicole and Ashley to my sister's house and spent the day at Disneyland with Emily and Angela. It was so fun that we could go on all the rides together. My sister and her family spent some time with us at Disneyland also which made it even more fun!

You can tell how hot it is from all the sweat on our faces!

Our first ride had to be Dumbo of course!

 The girls loved these bumper cars they could drive by themselves. I think they did this at least 5 times.

 Ashley was not happy she couldn't go on this ride.

As we entered the park one day, I heard someone call my name and it was one of my college roommates, Tiffany! I couldn't believe it. I hadn't seen her since her wedding, so it was so fun to see her and her kids. She was meeting another friend that lived above us, so I got to see Nora too.

 Teacups were a favorite and since there was never a line for it, we did it many times. Matthew and the girls would spin as fast as they could while Ashley and I rode another tea cup and tried to keep it from spinning.

Ashley spent lots of time in the stroller!

This little kids roller coaster was Nicole's favorite ride. We did it 4 times in a row one day since there was no line.

 Nicole and I are in the back. She was so cute how she would hold her arms up the whole ride (which is only like 30 seconds).

 And of course we had to wait in line to see the Princesses. This was a highlight for Nicole.

 The girls really liked this ride, but I opted out and took pictures instead.

It was a lot cooler our last day when we went to the beach, but it was fun to see the beach near my sister's house and there were huge crashing waves that were fun to watch.



We're already looking forward to going again someday!

Children's Museum

We got a children's museum membership last January and I haven't used it very much, so we're trying to go more before it expires. Ashley hadn't been in a few months when she was more of a baby and as we entered the play area, she let out a squeal of delight. It was the cutest thing ever. I was surprised how much Ashley was into the shopping. Even though she wasn't walking yet, she would walk along everything and do what all the other kids were doing. Hopefully we'll get there a few more times before the membership expires. For my Portland friends, let me know if you want someone to go with!