the rest of november and december minus christmas

i realized that my october post also contained about half of november, so here are the rest of november, as well as december's up until christmas.

goons:

i have been so bad about getting out the camera lately, and our trip to portland for thanksgiving was no exception. my cousin, lucy, and her family invited us down to portland to join them for thanksgiving. it was a short visit, with lots of talking, the kids playing, and lots of food, but apparently not a lot of picture taking. here's one of my girls with my cousin's daughter, elna. 

we had such a great time with the harris family and it made me wish that lucy lived next door. or at least closer than three hours away. 

my cute breakfast companion:

jonathan loved the paper stars that i hung up for decorations and would constantly point to them. 

i don't decorate much (at all) for other holidays, but i do love christmas. nothing wild, but i have to have my christmas lights. it makes me happy all season long.

these two love to snuggle with me in the morning. at the same time.

slugs:

jonathan was overdue for a nap and tried to fall asleep on this bucket of oats.

this boy loves climbing in buckets and boxes. he also loves giving cheesy smiles for the camera.

my glasses broke right when we moved to seattle and since it was a pretty minor prescription, mostly for distance, i've been getting along without them for the past year and a half. i finally decided it was time to replace them, so i ordered some frames to try out from warby parker (they have a home try-on program). i wore them around for a couple days, decided which ones i liked, and then went to get a prescription and found out that my eyesight has corrected itself and i no longer need glasses. i have to admit, i was a little sad because i actually don't mind wearing glasses, but i couldn't justify buying glasses when i don't actually need them. bummer. i should be grateful, i know... 


jonathan trying on some glasses, too:

madeleine was being a pill about practicing this morning and i think she thought if she was goofy enough she would get out of it. silly madeleine. pecks practice.

my aunt cheryl invited the kids over to decorate sugar cookies again this year and i only took two pictures. i've really got to get back into practice with taking pictures. i blame my phone. they had a great time and jonathan loved rubbing the cookies back and forth across his lips like they were chapstick or something. 

randy's aunt, marte, got the girls a subscription to national geographic for kids for christmas. they loved looking at it together when it arrived.

my grandma passed away this month. she had alzheimer's and passed away quickly and with all of her children around her, so we feel like it was a blessing. it was fun to reminisce about her and the wonderful memories we have together. she was a feisty, intelligent woman, who was a very dedicated grandmother.

it snowed. bleh. thankfully, it melted by the afternoon. it did mean that madeleine's morning kindergarten was cancelled and she was pretty devastated because it was the last day before christmas break and they were supposed to sing happy birthday to her. i felt so bad for her. to make up for it, i actually ventured out in the snow with everyone.

out with the neighborhood: