Christmas Magic

We spent Christmas week in Spokane this year and it was a magical, fantastic, memory-filled week. Grandma and Papa's house looks like what Christmas dreams are made of.  There was a whole room of Santas, a snow village complete with moving pieces, three Christmas trees, freshly baked cookies and candy galore, continuously playing Christmas music, and very official looking reindeer bells on the door.  I feel like Grady's little brain was in a Christmas explosion in the most wonderful way.  The best part of the week was spending a full week with the Whitfields and Grandma and Papa just being together.  Thank you Grandma and Papa for hosting us, feeding us three enormous feasts and everything in between, and for making Christmas so special for all of us.

Grady was fascinated with this nutcracker, it was the cutest thing in the world to hear him try to say "Nuhgragger".

The rule was everytime you walked by Santa you had to say "Hi Santa".  Grady would alternate between "ho ho ho", "Hi Tanta" and "wheel wheel wheel" (because Santa had a sleigh with a wheel).

These pictures were before Grandma and Papa's tour de lights around the neighborhood where the parents were not allowed.  I forsee hot chocolates and lots of singing in the car in future years.  This time around will be marked by the two boys' hats falling over their eyes and Grady screaming "mama mama mama" as the tour came to an end.  What a wonderful magical memory for the kids.

We have a pretty cute niece and nephew.

Spending Christmas with two one year olds and a four year old is about as good as it gets.  It was SO fun to watch these three have 5 full days together. 

I will never get over how adorable these two are together.  They kill me in their little jeans, I just could squeeze them both all day long.

 

Grady and his papa. So sweet.

Chris and I got out to enjoy two lunch dates thanks to Grandma and Papa.  Spokane and Coeur d'Alene  at Christmas are cold, but beautiful.

"Tanta" came and brought Grady all sorts of goodies!

The magic snow village is not really Grady friendly, but so cool.  Every now and then Grady would come to me to proudly display a miniature snow-covered tree.  It became a game for me to find the right place where he'd previously plucked such tree.

 

Grady and papa played "papa boo" for what seemed like two days straight.   Grady would crawl on the floor and papa would crawl over the top of him and say boo.  Two weeks later, when we say the word papa, Grady says one of two things, "Papa boo" or "Papa choo choo".

"Papa choo choo"

Grandma got to experience Grady's famous open mouth kiss.  I am sure it was one of those memorable kinds of kisses.

The third floor is like a paradise for children with books, cars, a complete train town, and lots of babies (one of Grady's favorite things ever, hey no gender discrimination in this family, Grady's dada is a great dada and I am sure Grady will be one day too).

A slinky = huge hit!

Lots of tunnel fun to be had over Christmas..... I love how the adults got in on it as well.  Let me tell you, it is not easy to make your way through the little tunnel.

Merry Christmas.  Hope it made you this happy!

You can see more of our Christmas shananigans over on the Whitfield blog.

Before leaving for Spokane my mom came over for a little early Christmas gift exchange.  Grady got this awesome tunnel that he just loves.   The tunnel made the trip with us to Spokane as you can see above.  I think that made Grandma and Grady pretty happy.

San Francisco Treat

(one jump, that is all it took to get this picture, way to go Becko!)

The week before my birthday I treated myself to a bit of an impromptu trip to San Francisco.  From the very start it was a wonderful little trip for me.  I enjoyed reading and napping on the plane without worrying about my restless Grady disrupting the peace.  When I arrived, I was escorted into the city by one of my favorite mamas.  Stace and I got to talk mom things and non-mom things and just catch up.  It is so crazy how simple things like enjoying a car ride with a girlfriend or a nap on a plane have become the things for which I have a new appreciation.  It was heaven.

We then met up with Lish and Becko for a little city Christmas shopping, a tradition dating all the way back to our college days.  We shopped some but mostly chatted.  The sun was out and so were about a billion Santa's for SantaCon (SF's Santa Convention).   We took our traditional picture by tree and had a wonderful lunch.  It was also heaven.  I feel so blessed to have these girls in my life.  We missed our other 801ers, but it was a perfect little afternoon.  

The next day was a day to explore the city a little.  We started with the best breakfast in the cutest perfect little SF cafe.  Then we rode on Becko's Vespa, a first for me!   We rode down to Golden Gate Park and walked the bridge.  It was so beautiful out and we just talked and chatted and laughed.  This too was heaven and I wish I could do it every weekend.

I am not generally one to take food pics, but I think this is one of my top three breakfasts ever!

"Vespaing"

This makes me so happy

We also saw a movie, ate wonderful sushi, had nightcap at a cute neighborhood bar, and then enjoyed In and Out for dinner before I headed out.  We fit a ton in to 1.5 days!

I love Boise so much, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt happy being able to be a "city girl" for the weekend. In fact, I bought myself some new neon shoes that appear to be wildly popular "in the city", but have not made their way up to the Idaho sticks yet, so that I could bring home a little "city girlness". I walked away (in my neon shoes) feeling so happy having had a weekend to myself, which ended with a perfect little nap on the plane.  Thanks for hosting Becko and thanks for coming out to play Stace and Lish.  Love to you all!

Little getaways are the best.  Little getaways with wonderful friends and few distractions are the cream of the crop.  I love my 801 girls so much.  They are sisters to me and spending any time with them is such a treat.

Montanarama

From mid November through December, I was on the go.  We started off with a great trip to Butte, Montana to catch up with the Kachmariks and their three pack. Then we went up to McCall for Thanksgiving weekend. Next, I took a trip for work to Salt Lake.  I'd never been to Salt Lake and was impressed with the city although I failed to snap even one picture.  Up next was a short trip to one of my favorite cities to visit one of my favorite people and get in some time with some of my favorite girls in San Francisco. Then we were off to Spokane to celebrate Christmas. Phewwww, a busy month of travel for me and so much fun!

Now it is time to catch up on the blog.  (New years resolution: get back on top of it Alison!)

First up. Montana:

Our last travel experience with Grady to the Bay Area was ummm, well,  less than pleasant.  After that trip we decided for our own sanity that Grady needed to be grounded in Boise for a bit.  Grady's first opportunity to prove himself came on our almost 8 hour road trip to Butte.  I am SO HAPPY to say that he did great.  I was a flight attendant the whole trip offering milk, snacks, toys, songs and the most annoying children's show that Chris uploaded to his iPad, but by golly we made it to Montana in one piece.

We sat in awe of the Kachmariks while in Montana.  How they can keep three kids under control in a restaurant while we struggle with one is mindboggling to me.  Connor and Drew are amazingly well behaved and Kaitlyn is the most pleasant easy going baby ever.   Dan and Lish haven't slept a solid night in about 4 years and they make parenting three look like a cakewalk.  They are seasoned pros and we certainly have a lot to learn from them!

We hit up the Patagonia outlet because what better place to stock up on winter gear than in Montana and to get more than half off!  I was thrilled.   We were treated to amazing meals from breakfast until dinner.  We even got to spend a meal with the Wheelers, who, like all my 801 girls' parents, treated all of my college roommates like their children when they came to visit.   The boys hit up the chilly river one day while Lish and I stayed cozy inside and watched the little boys destroy their toy room.  Lish and I did some Christmas shopping and we enjoyed every single minute together. It was a short weekend, but a wonderful weekend. Thanks Kachmariks for opening up your gorgeous house to us and showing us some Montana love.  We love you guys!

Love these boys together!

4 Little Broncos, 1 big chair!

Which one of these kids is less cooperative than the others?

Boys boys boys.....

Chris was a happy, cold man getting some river time in with Dan.