Santa Train

All Aboard the Santa Train ! The Saturday after Thanksgiving we rode on the Santa Train something I have wanted to do with Payton for awhile and now that my parents live here I think it will be a  new tradition. We went with my parents since my Dad loves trains and it is a good way for him to share that love with Payton. It was a chilly morning so we had to bundle up to say warm.

She had a great time, she loved that the train was decorated with Christmas lights and flowers and even a few presents (that she wanted to take  home) On the way to see Santa we had someone read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” ( and learned a little history behind it)  and then Sang Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer ( Payton has been singing ever since) It was a lot of fun and made the ride go by faster.

We got of the train and rushed to see Santa, we were the second people in line which was great. When it was our turn Payton sat on Santa’s Lap and Logan did too.  I was surprised that Payton did not cry since she has every time she saw him in the past.Logan turned his head up to look at Santa and starred then realized he didn’t know this strange man and he got his pouty face on. We got a few pictures before the crying began. The each got a gift from Santa – a small top.

Who is this strange man holding me?

                                                I love how Payton is smiling up at Santa.

Waiting in line for cookies and hot chocolate

After  seeing Santa we went to get some cookies and Hot Chocolate or Coffee. The made three kinds of cookies in the old coal ovens, it was a fun experience and it makes you appreciate the ovens we use now. Then we looked a few old trains and how they worked and played with some toy trains while we waited for our train to take us back.

Making the cookie in the coal ovens

  Looking at how an old train works with Grandpa

On the way back we enjoyed the ride with all of our new memories. We can’t wait to go back next year for another magical trip aboard the Santa train.

Thanksgiving 2011

This year Thanksgiving was a little different since my parents move from Oregon to Washington. When we got up we made chocolate chip pancakes and watched The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Then we went up to their new house in Lake Stevens and watched a little football and some of the Macy’s Thanksgiving day Parade ( when the Football game was on a commercial ) Payton found lots of toys and books to play with while Logan explore some new territory.

Payton was super excited to go to grandma and grandpa’s for Thanksgiving. I have never seen a child SO excited for Thanksgiving you would have thought it was Christmas and not Thanksgiving by how excited she was.

He really enjoyed chasing Kat but she was able to get away from him since he can’t go up the stairs yet.
When the food was ready we all gathered around the table to eat. We all went around and said told one think we were Thankful for since it really is important to remember the things that God has given us. Logan and Payton were ready to eat. Logan even got to sit in his own chair like a big boy! He was so excited to try new food :Mashed Potatoes and eat some  yummy butternut squash. Payton liked the food but had more fun filling her roll with potatoes and playing with the Suzy Zoo pilgrim salt and pepper shakers.


After dinner she found my old My Little Ponies and had a good time playing with them. It was a nice day and a great first Thanksgiving for Logan. I think he is going to love this holiday!

Gingerbread central

This year Payton made a gingerbread train with Grandpa Tucker and a gingerbread house with mommy and daddy.  She couldn’t wait to put the train together with grandpa. The put the train together one day and let it set and grandpa came back to help babysit Saturday they decorated it.



     The finished train , she is so proud of it and loves to show people.
Friday we made the gingerbread house she has been waiting to make for a while. She was so excited. She started making it with Daddy since Logan was awake and getting into things.  They had fun decorating the house while mommy and Logan watched. A little later I was able to help Payton finish while Logan took a nap. It was fun and reminded me of the houses I built before in school , when I was a nanny and with Kevin , it was fun to finally build one with my own child. I love that the kits the have make it so easy to decorate it isn’t as hard as it used to be. Payton loved decorating her house and she was very particular about where things went and how they should look, which meant exactly like the box or as close as we could get it to look like the house on the box. She was telling me to do the tree and paint the door red and put the snow on ( shredded coconut) I had to tell her to wait a minute so I could finish the tree and then do something else. I think she was just so excited she wanted it to be finished. I have to say it looks pretty good and she was a great helper.I think this will be a new family tradition for us and we may end up with two houses once Logan gets big enough to do his own. I know Payton is not going to want to share .

 Decorating this gingerbread house is hard work!

 Here mister gingerbread man open the door to your house. She want him to open the door and asked me what was inside.

Craftacular week

This past week we spent working on crafts of all kinds. We made shirts, we made Christmas trees,pressed leaves in wax paper, we made a gingerbread house and also some pictures with foam shapes. It was a week of fun and my table was full of things to work on. First we made some pressed leaves. It is super easy to do and took only a few minutes. Get an iron and some wax paper and some beautiful leaves. Take some wax paper put leave on it then get another piece the same size and place on top.

Gently put the iron on it and go over the paper once it has sealed a little you can go over it like you would normally.

When we were done we hung them in the window.

Payton loves to make things with these foam pieces. It is fun and it lets her use her creativity to make something. I love that there are so many shapes and letters/numbers for her to use to create something. We did one and made our family and it had all our names so she could see them.

This year I thought it would be fun to makes some Christmas decorations. I saw this amazing idea on one of my favorite blogs Enjoying the Small Things . I figured we could do this one so we went and gathered the supplies that we couldn’t get from my mom. Then we had fun wrapping Styrofoam cones with yarn and gluing buttons then we painted terra cotta pots with beautiful colors and we were done. They look great and add some color to our house.

Carefully painting her pot.

 Payton loved all the buttons, she loved to sort them –especially the orange ones she has by her.

We did two white ones to represent me and Payton and two green for Kevin and Logan.  It is fun to have some new decorations that we made. I think we may have to think of something new to make or do each year.

one year later

Last year at this time we were getting a peek at our little baby and finding out if we would be having a boy or another girl. Such a fun and exciting time for us.

This is what we saw – our sweet little boy.

We had no idea who this little boy would be or even what we would name him.
Now he is almost 8 months old and getting into everything.

Today he wanted to help me empty the dishwasher, he had a great time splashing in some water and drumming on the door. I am so thankful for both of my kids and how amazing they are. Payton loves helping and is a little mother to her baby brother. Logan is so much fun and such a snuggly boy, I love it.


I think these to will be good friends,they already have so much fun together.

Halloween

Payton was excited to get dressed up and go trick or treating this year. She had so much fun last year that she couldn’t wait to do it all again. Logan was not as excited and cried when I put his elephant costume on so we decided to just put on his little football player hat and socks and call it good.
It was a beautiful night and we could see the moon shining bright most of the time. First We went to our neighbors houses first and most of them gave her candy for her brother which was sweet – Payton actually would try to hand it to Logan until they explained it was for her to eat. There were lots of kids out trick or treating and we sometimes had to fight our way to the door to get candy. She loved going to the houses and mixed up what she was supposed to say – she would say Thank you then Trick or treat it was cute. She ended up with a lot of candy and had a great time , Logan eventually fell asleep which was nice.When we got home Payton helped me pass out candy to the other kids. It was fun. Next year will be a little bit different with our little man on the move.. Until next year Happy Halloween everyone.

Our little princess waiting to go get some candy.

   Trick or treat!

Daddy and Payton with the moor up above to small to see.

  Our little trick or treaters ( Logan was watching some Monday Night Football)

Carving out some fun…

Last week to get ready for Halloween we carved our first pumpkin together. I wasn’t sure how Payton would like digging in and cleaning it out but she was a rock star!  This was one of my favorite activities to do with my pre-k students and after we were done we roasted the seeds. So when Payton and I got done cleaning the huge pumpkin we cleaned the seeds of and let them dry over night.
Later in the day we carved the face of our jack o lantern. I asked Payton what shapes we should make for the eyes – Triangles she said. Then I asked what shape the nose should be a circle, square or triangle – another triangle it was and finally I asked what kind of mouth we should make a scary one – nope a triangle one.

Smile Mr. pumpkin ! She was so excited to make her first Jack- o-lantern

That night we roasted the first half of our pumpkin seeds. We tossed them with a little olive oil and some cinnamon sugar mixture and baked at 300 for about 20 minutes. Then next day we baked the rest with just a little sea salt. Both are so yummy and a great healthy little snack you can take with you. You can also roast them with other spices depending on what type of flavor you want. You could make them spicy or sweet what ever you like.

   Pumpkin seeds roasted with sea salt.

 Mr. pumpkin is out with his friends ready for Halloween.