Snoqualmie Falls

Rey and I were able to take some extra time off between Christmas and New Years to spend with the girls.  We decided to head to Snoqualmie Falls on one of those days and enjoyed a great family hike.  Although, Laurel was a bit disappointed that it was a short way down and kept asking when we were going to go on the "real hike."  It was a chilly but beautiful day out and the fresh air was much needed.  Hiking is becoming an activity that we all really enjoy doing together so I am looking forward to more of them as the weather gets nicer.  Great exercise, fresh air and exploring adventures!

A Christmas Play

The girls were lucky enough to join Aunt Amy, Aunt Jenny and their cousins on a special outing to Seattle Center.  I, unfortunately, had to work.  They got to go ice skating, eat ice cream and go to the Children's Theater to see Chitty, Chitty Bang, Bang.  I am sad I wasn't able to join, but am thankful for some amazing sisters who are happy to take along my kids so they won't miss out.  Love these kids and all the fun they have together!

Christmas

We did our typical Christmas routine, Christmas Eve at the Sarion house and Christmas Day and the Knowles house.  The girls had a great time opening and giving presents.  I think these are a bit out of order, but I don't have the patience to move them around so it will just have to do!

Christmas Day at the Knowles

Grandma, Grandpa and the grandkids.  I can't get over how quickly they are all growing.

My girls and Aunt Jenny!

PJ twins!

It just wouldn't be a family gathering without some serious story telling.  All these kids love reading and books and it is such a great activity when they need a little down time.

Helping Grandpa and Grandma open their gifts.  

Cousins by the Christmas Tree!

The Jones, waiting for present opening.

My big 6 year old!

Presents!

Christmas Morning at our house.

Santa was kind enough to bring Laurel the only thing she really wanted for Christmas - The Pet Shop Airplane.  We don't need to talk about how long it took to put it together.

And Maya got her Santa wish - a walking, talking unicorn.

My favorite gift - they each got shark blankets!

Present opening

Good morning!

Christmas Eve at the Sarion household.

Daddy and Laurel snuggles

Daddy and Maya snuggles

Present opening.

This one is a bit random, but Laurel got to have a PJ party for school and decided to make it extra festive by wearing her reindeer antlers and snow boots!  

Christmas Cookies

Unfortunately, we missed the annual Knowles christmas cookie baking festivities this year. Poor Laurel came down with a stomach bug the night before that continued for the next two days so we were all housebound until she recovered.  Lucky for us, the rest of the bakers set aside a great selection of cookies for us so we still thoroughly enjoyed and gifted many, many cookies!

Once Laurel was healthy, we did a little baking on our own.  Not quite the same as doing it with everyone else, but we sure made some tasty ones!

The Many Faces Of Laurel

These pictures are from our Seabrook trip, but I absolutely love them because they show SO much of Laurel's personality.  I wish I was closer and had a better camera then my iPhone so I could zoom in on her better.  I asked for a picture and this is what she gave me ;-)

Seabrook

We took what is turning into an annual December trip to Seabrook.  We ran into some crazy weather this time around, but the rain held just long enough for us to enjoy a bit of time outside.  The power went out a few times and most of the weekend was spent with some quality family time.  We played lots of games, spent time at the pool, read books, watched movies by the fire and put together lots of legos.  We love this place, it is low key and allows for some relaxing family time.  We always come back refreshed!

The rain disappeared long enough for us to take a nice hike down to the beach. We followed the gnome trail and kept our eyes open for gnomes... unfortunately the gnomes kept themselves hidden but we did run into many of their homes!

We found our way down at the beach.  The water was higher than it has ever been on our visits and we weren't able to stay too long as the waves were very unpredictable and we often found ourselves running as fast as we could so they didn't drench us... boots and all!

Legos, wine and a fire.  A dream weekend, in my opinion!

The town had a Santa breakfast on Sunday before we left.  The girls had a great time painting ornaments, eating breakfast and looking at Santa from a distance.  Neither of them have ever been willing to actually go up and talk to Santa at any point in their lives!  We also got to watch a play put on my all the local kids the evening before, it was a fun version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

(This was as close as she would get!)

And what better to do on a rainy day then jump in puddles!!