Christmas Tree Lighting

What better place to celebrate the holiday season than Leavenworth, our favorite Bavarian village! Rebekah let us crash at her place, and invite Katy & Adam to enjoy the winter weekend as well - thank you Beca! Lola loved Leavenworth more every time she goes there. Hopefully we'll be back again in the New Year for a snowshoeing trip!

The little Eskimo around town.

 Turns out there were two Eskimos running around town together! So cute!

 Lola loved Santa from afar and was very shy up close! She did love the candy canes that he gave her, though. Every time we saw him in town, she would yell out "Hi Santa! Hug? Kiss?

Candy cane?"

 Lola & Loewy

 The dare devils on the ice. Abo & Dan couldn't decide how to pose for this picture, but finally decided on this.

 Abo is really great at posing for the camera.

 After a cold walk on Blackbird Island, we were ready for hot cocoa!

 The girls enjoyed the lighting and carols on Main Street, but Adam & Dan helped Rebeca turn on the lights on their building during the countdown.

About an hour before we left town, Lola finally decided it wasn't so bad to ride in her sled.

In fact, she really enjoyed it. We're just waiting for some snow back home.

Where's the snow??? It's almost Christmas!

St. Nicholas Day

I have the coolest family friend, Donna LaPlante, who has a tradition in her family that I've always loved. Her four children all have saint's names (Katherine, Rebecca, Nicholas & Matthew). On each of their "Saint's Days" they got to stay at home with their mom and do something special.

St. Nicholas Day is December 6th, and since Nicholas is my maiden name, I have decided to adopt that day as our family's "Saint Day" when we can stay at home and do something special together. This year is our first attempt, and I would say it was a success!

On the eve before St. Nicholas Day, it's a tradition for children to put their shoes outside, so St. Nicholas could put a small gift in them, usually an orange and something else. Lola put her slippers out and found an orange and some holiday books when she woke up.

 We went to the store for supplies to make snack mix and gingerbread cookies. Lola helped mix the snack mix before we baked it, and later in the day, she decorated the cookies herself after I put icing on them. We packed up some snack mix and cookies and delivered them to friends and family.

Lola is officially a huge fan of frosting!

Holiday Happenings

 Lola loves to take baby Jesus from our nativity and carry him around with her. Here, she's putting him back with his mommy & daddy, which she does very well.

 I saw this idea for an Advent calendar on Etsy.com and Dan helped me get the materials and make our own (for a lot cheaper!) It's a frame with chicken wire attached, and inside the little bags are ornaments that Lola gets to put on her tree each day. I really love it, and think I might keep it around all year for her artwork or pictures.

 Again...putting baby Jesus back with his parents :)

 Stanek's nursery had 2 reindeer at their store for a few weeks. We went to see them, and since we were the only ones there, the owner let us feed them raisins. Lola loved them, and I was surprised at how enchanted I was with them too! We could have stayed there all day.

 Yeah...totally cool. I came home and told Dan that I think we should have a Christmas tree farm and reindeer on his family's property at Peone Prairie. He didn't really take to the idea though.

 My Aunt Terry sent us an online advent calendar that we do every day as well. Lola asks to look at all of the past days with Dan when he comes home. She LOVES it!

 Our friends Meghan & David came to Spokane for a visit. We went to Christmas tree Elegance and ate yummy food all weekend. They should move to Spokane since they love it so much:)

And we love them!

Heading out the door, ready for the cold weather!

Turkey Weekend

This is a little belated, but I had to do a little catching up because some of these pictures can't be missed! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families and that you are enjoying the holiday season!

Lola's morning Thanksgiving outfit. Picked out by her dad, the converted Nebraska fan.

 She was also accessorized by Dan. By the look on her face, I think she wasn't sure about the ensemble, but she went with it anyway.

 Watching football.

 Learning to dribble a ball with Chenise, Auntie Rachael's friend who joined us for Thanksgiving.

 Lola also learned how to drive this weekend, or at least she practiced driving Jill's scooter (it wasn't plugged in!)

 Out and about to do some shopping!

Lola loved the Zags shop.



Happy Girl

In the last blog, I totally forgot to mention the great news about Lola. A few days before we headed to the lake, we went in to see the orthopedic surgeon and an x-ray showed her broken bone healing very quickly, so we were told she doesn't have to wear a cast anymore! We were surprised and amazed at the good news. Lola has never been so happy at the doctor's office!

Winter Wonderland

We decided to pack some bags and drive up to Palmer Lake for a long weekend away. On Friday morning, we woke up to snow! It was so beautiful and very peaceful.

 Lola's first attempt at walking in the snow. She wasn't so sure about it at first, but went

for it anyway.

 We took a walk to see the horses across the street. I love that you can be in a cozy cabin, with a beautiful lake and mountains on one side, and see horses and orchards on the other side.

 We ventured to Oroville for some grocery shopping and an always anticipated stop at "Tacos Jalisco" - our favorite taco truck in all of Washington. Dan turned me onto taco trucks when we first started dating, and now Lola is following in her father's taco-eating footsteps.

 Saturday was a beautiful sunny snow day.

 Very sunny!

 It was so cold, that the snow was powder and we weren't able to make a snowman...next time.

 Lola's favorite thing at Palmer Lake: the old phone that she makes calls on. She's wearing Dan's superman shirt and cape that he used to wear when he was little.

It was truly a weekend of relaxation! Yummy food, hot cocoa, playing in the snow, Gonzaga basketball, warm baths in the jacuzzi tub, and snuggling by the fire. We'll be back for more!

First Snow

We have been reading a few books about snow and building snowmen lately, so when we all woke up Saturday morning to the first snow, we had to celebrate! (It was a light snowfall that lasted only the morning, but still fun to get excited about!)

Lola has become a great helper in the kitchen. Even with her broken arm, she still was "in charge" of the pancake mix.

While the pancakes were cooking, Dan was showing some of his dance moves to Lola. We were listening to Christmas music (my choice, not his, but he went with it anyway!)

We enjoyed some hot cocoa as well.

Like I said, it was a pretty light snow, yet when I showed it to Lola, she got so excited and was saying "snowman!"

After our breakfast, we met up with Auntie Rach and went to Mobius, the Children's Museum. This is the shirt she brought her, and we cut off one of the arms so it worked perfectly!