Here comes Santa Claus!

We have an adorable couple at our church that dress up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus every year for our church Christmas party.  Of course we took Sophia to see Santa this year - she didn't even cry!  In fact, she really loved Mrs. Claus!

Happy Thanksgiving (3 weeks later)

This was our first Thanksgiving in our home!  We really enjoyed not travelling during the busiest travel week of the year!  We also really enjoyed having Jeff's brothers come to Seattle for the holiday.  We had good conversation, fun games, rainy outings, and of course good food.

Being the snob that I am, I wanted to have a very classy Thanksgiving so we went all out with the decor.  It was so fun to see it all put together.  Sophia woke up just as we were sitting down to dinner, but she sat happily in her highchair eating mashed potatoes for about 45 minutes...it was fabulous!

Sophia loved cousin Ellie!

THE Thanksgiving Table!

Just Dance!

Pike's Place

Justin Bieber Laser Show

Gingerbread Houses at the Sheraton

Sophia loves mashed potatoes

Grandma and Grandpa

My parents came to visit us at the beginning of October.  We had such a good time with them!  My dad works for Bank of America so he gets off from work all of the random holidays that the rest of us wish we got off like Columbus Day.  Anyway, they came to celebrate Columbus Day with us.

We mostly worked on projects because my parents are awesome like that.  Their vacation time always seems to turn into "help our kids" time.  Jeff and my dad worked on replacing a pole on our front porch which had rotted badly.  My mom and I sewed Sophia a dress and made a Halloween wreath.  We also went to a pumpkin patch, went to dinner, went shopping, played games...it was a blast!

One of the nights they were here, my Dad read Sophia her bedtime story.  During the entire story she would look at the book, then look at Grandpa, then look back at the book, then back at Grandpa, then help turn the page, then look at Grandpa.  It was like she'd never had a book read to her before, she was just so excited!  Here are a few pictures from the trip:

Actually this was after the trip...but the pumpkin is from the patch we visited

Sophia in her new dress

Storytime with Grandpa

Happy Nevada Day!

October 31st marks two very important holidays in the United States - Halloween and Nevada Day.  Since I lived in Nevada for ten years and claim the state as my home, I feel it is only appropriate to continue celebrating the day Nevada joined the United States of America. As such, this Halloween I threw a Nevada Day Party.  It was so fun and there was even a second Nevadan there to join in the celebration!  

I'm not much of a cookie decorator, but the cookies were supposed to be silver dollars, gold nuggets, and Nevada shaped cookies.  Regardless of what the cookies looked like, they tasted great.  And my first attempt at homemade apple cider wasn't too bad either...if I do say so myself.  Happy Nevada Day!

The Little Mermaid

Jeff and I can often hear faint noises from our neighbors or the street outside when we're quiet in our house.  However, about 3 or 4 months ago we started hearing a strange thumping on a regular basis.  It took us several days to realize it was Sophia pounding her legs in her crib.  When she first wakes up she get really excited and thumps both legs simultaneously.  That is why she is a mermaid this year for Halloween!

I found a crochet pattern on Etsy for a mermaid tail and figured since I'd crocheted hats and scarves in the past, I could probably do a mermaid tail.  Well, it was much more difficult than I anticipated, but it turned out insanely cute if I do say so myself!

Of course, it's much cuter with Sophia in it!

Happy Birthday and Anniversary Month!

It seems most of the birthdays and anniversaries in my family are in July and October so we do a lot of celebrating in those months.  This October Jeff and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!  My mom celebrated her XXth birthday.  My bro-in-law celebrated his 32nd birthday, I think.  And my sister celebrated her 30th birthday.

Since it was my sister's big 3-0 bday, I wanted to do something really different to celebrate.  She lives in Indiana so it had to be something mail-able.  I decided to send 30 of my favorite memories of the two of us to her, but I sent each memory in a separate envelope so that she got 30 pieces of mail that day.  It was so fun to think back across the years and see the growth of our friendship.  I numbered each envelope on the back with huge numbers and in envelope #30 I put the following picture: 

 A few years ago I found the most random and hilarious birthday card for my dad's birthday.  On the front was a picture like that above, only it was a dad and two little girls holding the signs.  The inside of the card said, "Happy Birthday - please disregard Stephanie".  

I'm not sure why, but I thought it was so funny!  When I called my dad on his birthday he said that my sister, Cielle, had given him the exact same card.  This, of course, only made the card funnier to me and it has since become my go-to homemade bday card.  I made it previously with two of my roommates, but I don't have a digital copy of that one. 

Happy Birthday to all the October-ites! 

Happy Halloween!

I've always been a random decorator.  I just buy little pieces of decor one piece at a time as I find it  and then put all of the accumulated mis-matching pieces up when the holiday rolls around.  I've always known that my decorating process was flawed, but never had the time or energy to come up with a new process...until now.

The biggest challenge in decorating my house is my mantel.  It's very thin meaning your typical mantel decor won't work on mine.  It also has a large black pipe right in the middle of it meaning I have to divide my mantel decor into 2 sections.  I finally decided to have my mantle decor be permanent and put my seasonal decor elsewhere as to avoid dealing with the above mentioned stumbling blocks.  The mirrors are from Marshalls.  The 2 small paintings I bought from Paris and Barcelona street painters.  The large hanging painting I had custom made in China.

I got the inspiration for my Halloween decor from Pinterest.  I joined Pinterest this summer and I swear my life will never be the same!  Here's a before and after of my entry "table".

BEFORE

AFTER

I think it turned out really well considering it was my first attempt at organized decorating!  The pumpkin in the lower right corner is from Marshall's (a few years ago) and the candle is something I got at the Puyallup fair a couple years ago.  The painted pumpkins are fake from the dollar store and painted with spray paint.  The number "31" are just wood blocks painted and stenciled then glued on top of cheap candlesticks from Goodwill which I painted with metallic spray paint.  The pitcher is part of my regular dish set from Marshall's.  Black flowers and crow from dollar store. And a cute little pumpkin from Carpinito's pumpkin patch in Kent.   I couldn't talk Jeff into letting me throw out the Halloween count down that's hanging on the closet door!  

Hopefully I'll be able to come up with something cute for Thanksgiving and Christmas without my brain exploding - craftiness is not my forte!

Family photos

While in Reno this summer we had a photographer come take family photos.  With one sister in Indiana, the other in Shanghai and a brother applying for med school it might be a while before we're all together again.  Unfortunately for Jeff and I, Sophia is the least photogenic kid in the world!  The second anyone whips out a camera she stares dumbfounded either at the camera or in the opposite direction.  My biased opinion is that she's the cutest in the world, but when she's older no one will believe what a cutie she was because she's such a dud in her pictures!  Equally as unfortunate is the way Jeff and I look in these pictures...alas, here are the family photos with Sophia the Dud, Jeff needing a haircut and we're-not-sure-why-she-looks-so-bad Janelle:

The Whole Fan-dam-ly

I've been blessed with the best family in the world!  My mother's family has always been very close and as a child I always looked forward to our annual family reunion each Fourth of July.  The reunion was structured the same each year: senior salutes for graduates, mission reports from the missionaries, talent show, daily devotionals before breakfast, family olympics, flag ceremony when there were boy scout age boys, lots of games (mostly Nertz), and lots of singing.

Some of my fondest memories are from those reunions.  With my family there is a feeling of security, acceptance, appreciation, love and camaraderie that just can't be duplicated.  Leaving a family reunion was always so sad.  As I kid I didn't understand the emotions that arose at the end of a reunion; now I understand those feelings were the recognition that I was returning to "real life" where things less constant, friends less devoted, experiences less memorable.  It is still so sad to say goodbye to family and accept the ominous return of real life after several days of pure happiness and peace.

I LOVE my family!