Woodland Park Zoo

Yesterday, we went to the Woodland Park Zoo with my friend Lauren and her 5 kids and 2 nephews. There were a lot of us, but it was a blast!! Since there were so many of us . . . on the way to and from the Zoo in our car I was able to chat with Emily and Brittany (Lauren's daughters) and get to know them better, which was so much fun!!

Sage and Molly had unlimited piggy back rides and people to pick them up for things they couldn't quite see. At one point I told Lauren that I was going to take her daughter Emily with me everywhere from now on! I don't think Sage let go of her hand much while we were there. And if she did, it was to hop on Brittany's back for a piggy back ride.

So here are a few of my favorite pictures . . .

AHHHHH!

Molly loved feeding the birds!!

Sage and Emily

Molly looking at the reptiles with Riley

I'm not sure what this thing is that they all climbed in, but the picture turned out cute.

Brittany's favorite animal is a hippo . . . hmmmm . . . quite a few conversations and silly songs about that yesterday.

Ashley's first time at the zoo. :)

More fun . . .

Lauren and Ashley

Combining Christmas Presents

Ever wonder what baby dolls do when they're not being played with? I guess at our house they play the Wii. I came out in the living room yesterday morning and Molly had them on the couch like this. Too cute!!

Christmas Day

This year, we had a quiet Christmas day, or at least as quiet as it can be with a 5 year old, almost 2 year old and 4 1/2 month old. We opened presents in the morning, played with our new Wii (family Christmas gift) and ended the night with a little celebration for Jesus' birthday. We put our last ornament on our Jesse tree and enjoyed some flourless chocolate cake after singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blowing out candles of course. Tom made us a great Roast Beef dinner and we're looking forward to those leftovers in a few short hours!

While I really missed being with our parents this year (and last), I have so much to be thankful for . . . my wonderful husband and 3 beautiful daughters, all of who are happy and healthy.

So here are a few pictures. . .

The girls were in PJ's all day, so I guess it's a good thing we got some cute Santa pictures with them in their Christmas clothes!!

More Chritmas Activites

On one of our many days around the house, we made these cute snowman pretzels. Molly wasn't really able to help, but Sage did a great job. Molly of course did a great job eating one though!

I was so disappointed that we had not found any good Christmas lights to look at yet this year and then found out about the Bellevue Botanical Garden. Half of Washington was there with us the night we went, but I'm still glad we did it. The lights were beautiful.

Visit with Santa

We headed out yesterday to the Nordstrom in the Southcenter Mall to visit Santa. There were no other families there, so the girls got some great alone time with Santa. Sage brought him her list and a cookie and told him what she wanted for Christmas. Molly showed him her hair . . . random, but so cute. :) They all did great and we got some cute pictures!!

Ashley - 4 1/2 months old

Sage - 5 years old

Molly - 23 months old

The Life of a Mom and an Alto

This morning around 7:30 I was so discouraged as I thought it was going to be the second year in a row I was going to missing singing on the Christmas music Sunday at church. Last year because of the crazy amounts of snow and this year . . . we'll, here's the story.

Sage was sick all day Friday, but was doing great yesterday. So I thought, GREAT!! Everyone is healthy so we can all be at church on Sunday. Wrong! Sunday morning a little after midnight I wake up to her screaming as she had thrown up in bed. After taking care of her and getting back in bed, I was so sad, knowing that I'd have to miss singing. 2 songs without an alto . . . oh well, what can you do.

Well, Aunt Patti and Uncle Chuck to the rescue. They ran on over early Sunday morning to stay with the girls, I hopped in the car and made it to church 5 minutes before the service started. YEA!! The music went well and Pastor John gave a nice message at the end tying it all together. I'm so grateful I was able to be a part of it. (And Sage seems fine and had fun with Aunt Patti and Uncle Chuck!)

All this to say, I love serving at church alongside my husband, but most of the time something does come up with one of the girls and I end up missing it and he ends up singing a solo. I'm glad we had a chance to sing together this morning. :) Thanks family!

Christmas Cookies

It just wouldn't be a holiday without making and decorating sugar cookies. This was the first time that Molly was really able to be a part of what we were doing. First of all, let me say that we were around the house all day so I let Sage do her and Molly's hair and pick out her own clothes. So here are the girls in their cute Christmas aprons.

Taking turns cutting out the shapes . . . so cute hearing, "Sage's turn. My turn."

Next came time to frost them. Molly got her own plate of frosting and candy and really couldn't spread the frosting, but sure had fun trying! I was amazed at how much Sage has changed in a year. She did such a great job decorating the cookies and is very excited to give some to Miss Robin at storytime, her Moppettes teachers and she even made one for Santa for when we see him later on this week. She thought he needed a present, since he gives out so many. (Cute. :))