Getting ready for Christmas

There's really nothing to make the holiday spirit more alive than experiencing Christmas through the eyes of a four year old.  Trey was so excited about everything - especially related to Santa and getting toys - and there were holiday events and traditions that I may have skipped except I wanted Trey to experience them.  Overall, we had a nice few weeks leading up to Christmas, and this holiday break from school has been awesome.

I stopped in Sherwood one day to run a few errands, and saw this outside the library.  So pretty, minus the port-a-potty.

Trey and Randy have really bonded over the past months, and it is so fun for me to see Randy finally getting the cuddles and physical closeness with Trey.

I'm getting more settled into my job, and while some things are getting less overwhelming, some are getting worse.  The math, for instance, might push me over the edge.  Oh, the new common core math curriculum, some of you might be thinking.  Yes, that's part of it, but what makes me want to pull my hair out is the utter lack of number sense that some of my fourth and fifth graders have, and my utter lack of skill in teaching that to them.  I personally do not feel that I have the skills to teach 10 and 11 year olds how to do math when they still have to use their fingers to add 3+1 or 5+5.  Some of them have trouble counting three digit numbers, and they have a difficult time placing a two or three digit number on a number line.  I just don't get it.

Also, the schedules of the LRC (my program) have been thrown into disarray due to one child who needed excessive constant support in the classroom, and I am so thankful to my two assistants, Marcelle and Mary Ellen, who were flexible throughout this process, and also to the classroom teachers who were accommodating to us and the constant change of substitutes coming in and out of the classrooms to work with or pull out the IEP kids.  It was a tough month, but I am hoping things will be more settled when we go back in January.  I can't say enough about the flexibility of my assistants and how hard they work for our program.  

Marcelle, Mary Ellen, and me at our staff Christmas party

The next morning we took Trey to see Santa.  I made an 8:30am reservation at Washington Square to see Santa, and Randy thought I was nuts.  I'm here to tell you that it was awesome.  No trouble parking at the mall, no lines, no crowds.  It was perfect.

Determining whether Trey was on the naughty or nice list.

We wondered if anyone ends up on the naughty list and/or if parents can tell the people working there to put their kids' names on the naughty list.  That would be so cruel.

Showing Santa his list.  

Santa said, "Wow, that's a lot of toys..."

Glad we got a normal looking Santa this year.

After seeing Santa, we stopped by to deliver donuts to Grady and Case.

One night in the days leading up to Christmas, we had Curt and Ana and the Kopplins over for dinner.  It was fun to all hang out, and the kids did great together.  At the end of the night they watched some movie (can't remember which), and that was great because it gave the adults more time to catch up.  We are so happy to have Curt back in town!

At the beginning of Christmas break, Julie and I took the boys to the Children's Museum.  Trey loves it here and runs around from room to room.  We haven't been in a while, and I definitely need to go back again soon.

I'm not sure what this room was for, but it was sort of like a snowball room?

On the drive home, I nearly had a panic attack when I saw this sign at our neighborhood school.  How is it possible that it is time to send my child to kindergarten???  I thought he was still my baby!

More Daddy and Trey cuddles while watching sports

One of Trey's favorite holiday traditions is making sugar cookies.  I surprised him one morning by saying we were going to do it that afternoon, and he was thrilled.  Maybe he'll be a cookie decorator when he grows up...

On Tuesday before Christmas, Trey's preschool had a Christmas program where the kids sang some songs.  It was pretty cute! I also must say here that one of my biggest Christmas successes was getting holiday cards and gifts to his preschool teachers BEFORE Christmas this year.  I cannot say the same about last year.

Trey has been enjoying the advent calendar I made for him last year, and, just like how Julie and I were when we were growing up, the ornament he was most excited for was Santa on the 24th! He knows what this means!  Finally time for Santa to come!

Christmas Eve morning...

the longest day of the year in the mind of a four year old!

Building a house

For the past several years, Sandy has decorated gingerbread houses with her grandkids every December.  Trey has always been too young, (well, actually, we thought about going last year but there was some kind of weather hindrance) but this year we were all in.  Julie and the boys decided to go too, so Sandy and my dad had all of their grandkids there for the first time.

Looked in my rearview mirror on the way down and saw this.

Melted me, of course.

Trey and I drove down on Saturday, met Ardis and Dan for lunch in Woodburn, and then spent some time with Sarah Long and her kids on Saturday afternoon before going out to my dad's.  It was a great day and nice for me and Trey to spend some quality time together.  Saturday night, all of Sandy's kids (aka my cousins) were there, and we stayed up late talking.  Super fun.  Julie and the boys came out on Sunday to decorate houses.

Helping Heidi get everything ready 

This is Trey's smile when I ask him to smile.

Makes. Me. Crazy.   

All of the houses and supplies are ready. 

Someone was ready to get started.

Grandpa, Sanny, and the nine grandkids 

This is pretty much what it looked like from the moment we finished

 until all of the good parts were gone.

Thanksgiving in Port Townsend

This year we headed north for Thanksgiving because Randy's parents retired and moved into their brand new, just built, house in Port Townsend.  We were so excited to see the finished product and spend some time with the Clark family.

We decided to leave on Thursday morning so we wouldn't have to deal with traffic on the way up and because, frankly, we weren't organized enough to leave right after work on Wednesday.  Randy's work schedule has been very very busy, and my work day plus two hours in the car plus working from home at night doesn't leave a lot of room to pack and get out of the door in a timely manner.

Wednesday night we went to ABV, one of our favorite restaurants in the 'burbs for dinner and some beers.  It was so nice to know we didn't have to go back to work until Monday.

We were out of the door by 8am on Thanksgiving, and after a stop for coffee and donuts were on the road north.

The drive was beautiful.

As soon as we arrived and got the tour, Trey and Grandpa Doug were on the floor playing.  This is one of my favorite things about Grandpa Doug.

Later in the afternoon the relatives started arriving, and we were so happy to see Grandma Alice, Uncle Duane, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Dave, Aunt Toni, Uncle Karl, Aunt Bobbi, Cousin Arthur, and Cousins Albert and Heidi with their kids Javan and Micah.  We haven't seen most of them since Grandma Alice's 90th birthday party at the beginning of May.

Doug, Alice, and Randy 

(father, grandma, son)

A Clark get-together really isn't a get-together without frisbee. 

Playing on the floor before dinner 

PS I have no idea who the guy in the top left corner is.  

I didn't know then, and I don't know now.  

Trey watching Grandpa carve the turkey

Albert, Micah, Javan, Trey, and Randy eating cheesy popcorn after dinner 

On Friday, the girls went shopping in Port Townsend and the boys took a trip to Home Depot which Randy might describe as Hell.  Doug needed to get wood and supplies for a few different sheds as well as materials for a cabinet project, and they all headed into Sequim to load up.  I think they were there for several hours, and I'm not exaggerating.  I can't believe the boys made it through (the little ones) and I was happy to see their starving tired faces when they got home.

Arthur reading some stories that he found...

who knew that Home Depot had books?

Friday was Micah's third birthday, so we celebrated that night with a delicious cake that Heidi brought from home.  She is pregnant with their third, and we can't wait to meet the newest Ordelheide.

Saturday we were surprised with some snow when we woke.  Trey was relaxing and bed and didn't want to get up, but when I told him there was snow he was up in about a millasecond looking out our window.  The kids had a lot of fun outside and luckily the snow didn't keep us from making our way home on Saturday afternoon.

The view from our window.

I think this is only the second or third time Trey has seen snow, 

so he was in heaven (opposite, of course, of their experience at Home Depot the day before). 

The view from Doug and Carmen's deck

Mt. Baker on the left and Discovery Bay on the right.

Trey didn't eat much at Grandma and Grandpa's 

except for macaroni and cheese. 

Grandpa reading to Trey and Javan before we left.

Grandma, Trey and Grandpa,

three people who love each other very much.

It was wonderful to spend the holiday with Randy's side of the family, and it was so good to finally see Doug and Carmen's new house.  We plan on spending a lot of time up there and we love having them closer.  It was nice to come home on Saturday so we had the whole day at home on Sunday before getting back to work.