Christmas at the Lewis'

Here is our Christmas fun. On Christmas eve night the Lewis' came over for gifts. And with Nathan staying with us it the guys decided to see wow would win at arm wrestling. And thanks to my WONDERFUL sister in law, Tina, Josiah got a Marshmellow shooter. It shoots mini marshmellows. I can't wait for Tina to have her own kids so I can get her kids fun toys just like this one. Christmas morning we went and got my parents since it was snowing pretty hard and there was no way their car would make it out of the driveway. Josiah very excited about Star War Legos Alex opening a new hat David Josiah with a new Steelers jersey, he was so excited he had to put it on right away. David got new running shoes. our annual family photo. We took several and this was the best I could find.


On Christmas night we went to the Gates house for games. It was a ton of fun and they always make the games a riot. Sorry, no photos, I was way to busy laughing to think of my camera. I can't wait to get together with them again, hopefully soon!

Then Sunday Josiah got to sing in church. I had to bribe him to go up there and from the video you can see he is bearly singing and not doing any of the hand motions. The gum in his month was a good idea cause at least it looks like he's singing. LOL


Please forgive my shakey video. I really need to get a tripod to do more videos

A New Book

I was at my family Christmas party last night and my aunts had read this amazing new book called "The Shack". I tend to relate more to God through stories that are in the here and now. I have listened to this book at work and spent an hour holding back the tears. It is truly an AMAZING story of pain and love. I encourage you all to read it and be encouraged and feel "the presense of Love". Please post your comments on the book below! :-).

New Blog!!!

My little brother who just moved to Salt Lake City with one of the cutest nephews in the world has finally jumped on the blog wagon so we can keep up with him and his family.

check it out by clicking HERE

And of course I will keep it logged on my blog list.

Christmas traditions

One of our Christmas traditions is to watch my FAVORITE Christmas movie. We have been watching it since our first Christmas together.


I love the songs and the characters. My favorite muppet is the ghost of Christmas present.



If you haven't watched this movie, it is really a great family tale, and of course Gonzo & Rizzo the Rat are amusing to watch as well.... my favorite line is LIGHT THE LAMP, NOT THE RAT! LIGHT THE LAMP, NOT THE RAT.

Anyways... tell me what your favorite Christmas movie or tradition is, I would love to hear them!!

My turn to rant

So it's snowing, I think no matter where you live you are being hit with these "winter storms". For those not in Seattle, when it snows here, the city is paralyzed. It snows a few inches & then it's gone within 48 hours.
Well, the first bit of snow came last Saturday and then it froze, by Tuesday, the roads were still a mess. Wednesday we had the "threat" of snows & schools closed. So Wednesday night we got hit. And now it is Saturday and the next storm is here, another 3-6" are supposed to hit us with lots of wind.

The news is only reporting on one thing, schools are closing. We have come to a stand still. The tempatures have not gone above 30 degrees. I am miserable. I don't know if I have ever expierenced cold like this for such a long time. So here is my rant.

This morning we went to the Super Wal Mart up north and as we drove I am distracted by the beauty of the snow. The news is so negative about it, the icy roads, the chilly tempatures, and so on. But has anyone stopped and reported on teh beauty of the snow. I can't get over how the snow hangs on the evergreens or how the trees void of leaves become snow fille branches. It is amazing, it is beautiful, and peaceful. So as we all stress about transportation, keeping warm, our loved ones, take a second to look out the window & just thank God for the beauty he has created.



(David & Josiah on thier way to sled down the hill).

Christmas Tree

Our Christmas Tree went up a week ago. We had a good time going through all the ornaments. Each year we give the boy an ornament that represents something they have loved or had an interest in during that year.






The angel on the top of the tree is sentimental to me, I don't know if I will ever get rid of it- even when David say a Mickey & Minnie one and said I could buy it.... I couldn't do it. Even though my tree is slowly converting to an all Disney tree.



We had a great time. and I'm glad to see the tree go up. Now our house smells like Christmas. I just can't wait!

Hand Quilting

I took a hand quilting class earlier this month and I finished my first project. The teacher, Pat, is also a lady from my local quilt guild. She put together the four patches & I combined four of them to make this wall hanging.

it's hard to see the detail in photos but in the center is a wreath of holly and each of the outside squares has a christmas ball in it. Now i just need to finish the binding and it's complete!! It was a lot of fun to work on.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Leavenworth!

Almost every year we make a trip to Leavenworth. It started several years ago when my parents would take Alex on their church bus, then I started to join along and then Josiah. And ever once in a while David joins us. This year it was all four of us, plus my parents on the chartered bus headed east to shop and watch the town light up. This year there was no snow, so it wasn't a lot of fun for the boys, but we still had a good time.

We got up at 5:45am to catch the bus in Snohomish.





On the way over they had a raffle with a $5.00 buy in. We joined in since everyone was a winner and to our surprise David won the big jackpot.... it was a nice little bonus so we gave the kids so play money for their day.

We stopped at the little candy store just outside of town, the river here was so beautiful I couldn't help taking some shots.


I played with my camera and got this black & white.



And then it's family photo time.


Hat Shop fun... I think Alex ran for the hills when he saw the camera come out.



Sorry Kim, Jason & DJ.... Mom took this photo.


Josiah with the Nutcrackers.


A new way to keep Josiah out of trouble.


What do you eat when it's 35 degrees outside? Icecream of course and it didn't melt!!










And the annual family photo!! I look forward to getting this shot every year.


We had a great time as a family, very little fights and we even got some Christmas shopping out of the way.
So I guess this means I am all caught up on my blog! I hope you enjoy all the stuff going on in our lives!

Seattle Marathon

David decided that this year he wanted to run in the Seattle Marathon. It's 26.2 miles through Seattle on a November Sunday morning.

Saturday night we had to go pick up his race day packet so we decided to make an evening of it downtown. Pacific Place does a little show at 6:00pm that includes snow. I had always wanted to see it so this was the night. It was really cool.


After that we met DJ & Ali at the spaghetti factory downtown for a "farewell" dinner. I am still bummed that I don't ahve the opportunity to get to know Ali a little more. sorry, no photos, we were way too busy laughing and having a good time.

So we got up extra early on Sunday & I drove David downtown to the start of the race. After realizing the tempature downtown I headed for first service and then returned to wait at the finish line for him.

It was really cool to watch him cross the finish line. He did really well.




If you look really closely at the time on the left you can see that David finished the race in 4 hours and 38 minutes. He even says he is going to do it again. I'm trying to talk him into the Disney World Marathon, but that may take some more talking.

Thanksgiving Day

On Thanksgiving we went to my parents house for the afternoon. My brother, DJ, his wife, Ali & Gabe came over to celebrate an early Christmas since they were moving to Utah that weekend.
David watching the game and Josiah enjoying video games.


Josiah wanted a "leg" so he got one...



We gave Gabe his first baseball toy for Christmas and it even came with a bat.




Hahaha... that's what a good aunt is for. To give them toys that includes bats. They made it to Utah in one piece and as hard as it is to see them go I know they are getting a great opportunity.