The Crash of 2012

In the early hours of Saturday morning our Christmas tree fell over. Cameron came into our room and said "Mom, there is a problem with our Christmas tree."  Hmm....yeah it fell over.  There were broken ornaments and glass everywhere.  The kids kept shouting, "Oh look that ornament is broken, oh so it that one...!"  Mitch was like, "Stop! Your going to make mom cry!"  Seriously.  I know that ornaments are just things but really that was going to make me cry.  When I was little my dad worked for Hallmark so we each got a Hallmark ornament every year.  I have quite a large collection of old Hallmark ornaments that are special.  Here's my kind of crazy:  A few years ago after Christmas was over and I was putting all the ornaments away I took pictures of all of the ornaments so that if something ever happened to them I would at least have a picture of them. 

Yeah, see what I mean...I am crazy! Luckily not too many of the Hallmark ornaments were broken, mainly glass balls and random glass ornaments that didn't have too much sentimental value. I went shopping all Saturday and when I got home my sweet husband had super glued my Hallmark ornaments that were broken. There were a few that I didn't think I was even going to be able to save, but he pieced them back together for me. Yesterday I spent the whole afternoon re-decorating the tree. I had to take off the lights and re-string them. What a huge pain! Our tree is now tied to the wall. The kids thought this was one of the funniest things ever and haven't stopped talking about it. I think they will remember this for years to come!!



Santa Train

Last Saturday we took a trip on the Santa Train.  The train leaves the station in Elbe which is a very small town at the foothills of Mt. Rainer.  It took us about 1 1/2 to get there from our house.  On the train you get to enjoy cookies, hot chocolate, a visit with Santa and enjoy the scenic ride. 

Our tickets to aboard the train. 

The kids really enjoyed sticking their heads out the window and watching things go by.  In my mind I thought the train would be moving a lot faster than it did.  Not sure what I had envisioned but, I mean it really was slow moving....I could have jumped off the train and not hurt myself.  HA HA

Apparently Lucy has a new favorite food. POPCORN!

A visit with the big guy 

On the way to the train Julia said, "Is this going to be the real Santa or a fake one, like at the Ward Christmas Party?  I mean Santa is going to be stuck on a train all day.  Shouldn't he be busy getting all the toys ready?  Maybe his elves are in a boxcar working on toys!" 

As soon as the kids saw Santa and he asked them what they wanted Cameron launched into his list, "Football gloves...youth size medium....."  Mitch and I were dying trying not to laugh!



In the news...

So we went to the annual Christmas Creche Exhibit at our building tonight.  One of our friends in our ward is a cameraman for Q13 TV and had his camera there to take some video of the event for the 10:00pm newscast.  (slow news night obviously) 

He told us later that he filmed Cameron and Julia and put them on the piece that made the news.  We missed the live broadcast but found the video online.  Here's a link....see how many Stuards you can spot!

To see the video, CLICK HERE.

Pukesgiving

Thanksgiving was a weekend full of possibilities.  Our Oregon cousins were in town and it was going to be a party.  Julia woke up Thanksgiving morning stating that her stomach hurt, about an hour later she started to throw up, and up and up.  When it was time to go to Bellevue we packed her up and away we went.  She was so sick.  It was like the Pilgrims bring the white man diseases to the Indians for Thanksgiving dinner.  Seriously.  Julia didn't have any food all day, I felt pretty bad for her.  A few hours later Mitch and Cameron started in with the stomach flu.  On the way home Natalie started throwing up, then came Lucy, then me.  The next few days were a l-o-n-g.  We never saw the cousins for the rest of their trip because the next day, our cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma and grandpa all came down with it.  It truly was the gift of giving this year!  SO SORRY!! 

Julia made these cute turkeys for everyone for dinner.

The day before Thanksgiving we went shopping and found these jammies.  I could NOT help myself.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE matching clothes!  Cam looks a little green in this picture because it was Thanksgiving night and in between puking sessions.

The day before Thanksgiving was "Apple Cup"  day at school. Cam and Julia showing off their Husky pride.

Nat and her bucket

Mitch and Cameron in bed with the flu watching the Apple Cup.  WSU won the game and it didn't improve the mood of the house.  Cam (...and Mitch who I am I kidding?)  were SO disappointed.  Hopefully next year boys!

Here's to a healthier Christmas!!

Lucy's 1 year old pictures

What can I say?  I have the cutest, baldest one year old around!

A comedian

I drew Chocolate Guy on the the white board with a small reminder for the kids....

Cameron did some editing to it................... 

*F*I*V*E*

Happy Birthday Natalie Jane!

Natalie picked a Minnie Mouse party and boy did she have a lot of ideas of how she wanted her party to go!  I sure tried to fulfill some of the grand visions of the day.  Natalie was SO excited to have her very first friend party and the invite list was L-O-N-G but we did seem to narrow it down a bit.

Minnie Mouse cupcakes for the party.  As Natalie would tell you, the best part was that the bows were real gum!

This was part of the grand vision.  Minnie ears for everyone = Me, felt, and A LOT of hot glue.

The presents

I told Natalie after the day was over that I think she might not need Christmas.  Some of the highlights:  Fancy Umbrella, Dream light, Books (The new Olivia book and Berenstain Bears!), Jewelry box, hats, and LOTS little plastic toys:  Pony's, Polly Pockets, Doc McStuffins, Lalaloopsy, Barbie, Minnie Mouse........

The Party!  Games, Games, Games!  Natalie was most excited about the game Put the ring on Minnie's finger



Happy Birthday BIG girl!!

Turkey Trot 2012

Saturday was our annual Turkey Trot run. What a fun morning we had.  The weather was COLD but it wasn't raining, so hey we can't complain!  Here is the group ready to RUN.

Julia and Natalie ran in the 1K.  Mitch ran with Natalie as a warm up for his race so Lucy and I got to enjoy the race!

There were 337 kids signed up for the 1K, Julia came in 6th!!  I was actually shocked.  She didn't start in the front of the pack but really made up some ground.  I think the only girl that was in front of her was a girl that looked about 11 or 12 years old.  Lucy, Cam and I were watching for the runners about 3/4 of the way through the race and when I saw the kids in front I couldn't believe that Julia was up there.  She did AWESOME!  She looked just like a leaping gazelle.  Seriously, so cute.  Natalie might be one of my favorite runners of all time.  She runs with the most determined look on her face, she is a powerhouse.

  

The boys vs the 5k

The Stats:  545 runners in the 5k, 262 of them were males.

Cameron:
Division: Male 9-11 years old
1st place in his age division!  (out of 39)
40th overall out of the 545 runners! 
22:00 (That is 7:06 a mile!!)
All runners ahead of him were at least 14 years old.
Improved 1:03 from last year.
1st place trophy and gift card to a cake shop



Mitch:
Division: Male 35-39 years old
2nd place in his age division. (out of 26)
37th overall
21:42
2nd place trophy

Mitch hurt his calf with the last 400 meters to go and was really disappointed.  Although Mitch beat Cam in time Cameron actually pasted Mitch to the finish line.  He was so excited to beat his dad.  I have a feeling this won't be the last time!

Lucy is just warming up for next year when she will be ready to run!

Pure Bliss

Cameron thinks he has died and gone to Heaven.  It is after all his number 1 favorite pizza!