Snapshots

Rather than attempt to catch up on our happenings over the past month, here are some snapshots of our life. The highlights, if you will, of our holidays.

"Frossy": Sometime before Christmas, Henry became obsessed with "Frossy Mo-man". We would go for walks around the block, and when he saw the blow up Frosty at the house down the street, he would take off on a dead sprint yelling "Frossy!!!" the whole way. We went to see Santa at the park one time and Frosty was also there, so Henry followed him around pointing and yelling "Frossy!" the whole time. He has a pillowcase with snowmen all over it, and enjoyed going to sleep each night pointing to each one and saying "Ni-nigh Frossy!" Any snowman we saw, whether it be on wrapping paper, tv shows, figurines, etc., would set Henry off yelling "Frossy mo-man!!" over and over. Katie's fiance Shawn bought a Frosty the Snowman book that played the song and said it was for all the kids. HA! Henry claimed it as his own and read it to my parents' dog, read it with each adult, and often went to sleep with it.

Dinosaur fun: While my sister and her family were in town in Iowa, we did a mini-Christmas celebration. Her 4-year old son Ash got something he was really hoping for - a remote control toy dinosaur that walked and roared. The best part? Henry's response!

Ash opening the dinosaur, and Henry protecting Sophie the dog

until the dinosaur got too close, and Henry had to save himself and took cover!

Wedding prep: One morning we went wedding dress shopping! My sis Katie is getting married in April so we took advantage of all of us being in town and made a girls' day out of it. Spoiler alert: she bought one!

Adele and Ash anxiously awaiting Aunt Katie to show off the next dress

Christmas Eve: Christmas Eve we attended a service at the church I grew up in, Westminster Presbyterian. I hadn't been there in years and enjoyed  walking around the church, noticing many changes and reminiscing lots of great memories of my childhood. When we sang "Silent Night" and the whole congregation raised our candles during "sleep in heavenly peace" and lowered when repeated, I had to chuckle when David was surprised. He apparently thought all these years it was just my family that raised their candles and didn't know it came from an old church tradition!

My beautiful girl in her Christmas dress

Christmas Day: Watching my kids on Christmas brought up lots of childhood memories. So fun to spend a whole day going from toy to toy and snuggling in to watch Christmas movies and eat Christmas treats!

Game day: For our "Christmas Day" in Spokane, we had a game day. It was complete with challenges for all ages including puzzles, board games, foosball, etc. The day finished with prizes for everyone!

Henry and Hannah refining their puzzle skills while Adele checks out the prize table

Coloring: Coloring books were a hit this year for Christmas in Spokane. The older kids got these really elaborate coloring books and even the adults enjoyed the afternoon naptime to sit and color.

Ice skating: Adele had a chance to go ice skating with Aunt Jordan and her cousin Benjamin's school. I thought she would be nervous or not even put the ice skates on, but she did wear skates and loved every minute of it! She now tells me, "I know how to ice skate Mommy. Next time we go, I'll teach you!"

Frozen: We only go to a movie maybe once every other year. This year we went to see "Frozen" and LOVED it. Even Henry was entertained, mostly because every scene where the snowman Olaf was on screen meant Henry would yell excitedly "Frossy!!" Since the movie, my kids have almost memorized the soundtrack and often re-enact scenes from the movie. One of the highlights - seeing Adele react to the short Mickey film before the movie. She truly thought the characters had come through the screen and were on stage. We were giggling a lot when she was standing and waving yelling "Hi Mickey! It's me, Adele!"

Dentist fun: Adele and her 3-year old cousin Hannah played together almost every single day while we were in Spokane, sometimes all day and sleepovers at night. One activity they enjoyed together was playing "dentist." It may sound strange, but Adele had recently gotten 2 fillings, and Hannah had her own appointment coming up to get fillings. The girls took turns being the dentist, and also did work on any adult they could convince to lay on the couch!

Hannah and Adele matching...and Hannah being the "dentist" for Adele