ashford turns 8 and our cozy, snowy christmas

whew, the busiest week of the year! grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and settle in for a long post. in order to fill the first week of christmas break, i decided to plan lots of fun stuff to do with the kids.

last monday i took them bowling at kenmore lanes. we had never been there before, but they were open in the afternoon. they have 50 lanes and 43 were being used when we arrived. wow. thankfully bowling has some built in social distancing ;) the kids and i were pretty evenly matched competitors - them with bumpers, me without. haha. we played two games (with scores in the 70s), then ordered some fried mac and cheese bites. there was also an arcade there and the kids looooove those, so i let them each play a couple games before we left. 

 

 

when we got home, azalea and i painted our nails festive christmas colors.

 

 

azalea and her friend simone exchanged gifts (bought with their own money) last week and simone got azalea two outfits for her kirsten doll. azalea was thrilled! 

 

tuesday was ashford's birthday! i cannot believe my baby boy is 8 already. 

our friends kay, wyatt, and fritz invited us to join them at 'flat stick pub' in south lake union. it's a restaurant with mini golf and family-friendly during the day. in fact, the kids got to play for free! we made sure to buy lots of food to make up for it :) it was nearly empty there, which was great. we had so much fun.

 

 

i always take a picture at dusk on the winter solstice. this was about 3:50 pm but we've had days this month where it was way darker even earlier than this.  

we celebrated ashford as a family in the evening. we had leftovers from lunch for dinner, and thatcher made him a minecraft cake. we had a zoom with our extended family around the u.s. and the world! 

we ended the night by watching home alone 2 (his pick!). i hope we can always make ashford feel special and loved on his nearly-christmas birthday.

wednesday morning ashford's friend arlo came over for a couple hours, then i took the boys to his house. azalea and i took our subaru to the dealership for maintenance and had a little coffee shop date after. indoor dining is making me uncomfortable once again, but it was really quiet there.

we had to walk home in the pouring rain. i also had to walk back to the dealership later to pick up our car later and it was still pouring. 

thatcher got me some lefse from ballard market...it was even made in minnesota! 

on thursday afternoon we went to my friend beth's to see her and her girls audrey & eliza who go to school with the kids. she made hot chocolate for the kids and they ran around the house and had fun while we chatted. 

 

after dinner that night, we drove to olympic manor neighborhood to see the famous christmas lights. it never disappoints. 

friday was christmas eve! thatcher doesn't normally get the day off, so it was nice that he did this year. here is a our holiday card we sent out. 

we had a low key day with just the four of us. in the morning i took ashford to fred meyer to get new snow boots for the impending snowstorm. we made cookies for santa and prepped our lasagna for dinner. i love christmas and our life in seattle, but i do get homesick when the holiday comes around and we aren't spending it with our families. we really have to make our own magic to make the days feel special. and i try to keep in mind that our many weeks we spend in minnesota each summer and visits from family through out the year is equally as special.

 

 

we told the kids they could open 1 or 2 presents on christmas eve, but they decided they wanted to save them all for the morning. we watched 'jingle all the way' and then it was off to bed so santa could come.  

ashford was awake at 6:45 on christmas morning, but we made him wait a while to go down until azalea woke up. we found the cookies eaten and presents under the tree :)

we made waffles with whipped cream and strawberries, eggs, and bacon for breakfast. then we opened our gifts (we skyped with my mom and brother for theirs). 

azalea was excited to get a kids alexa, a squishmallow, winter hat, earrings, and the game of life.

 

ashford was excited to get more lego sets, the zelda video game, and some new minecraft apparel.

the rest of the day we relaxed at home. the kids played with their new stuff, we played the game of life, watched christmas movies, i took a nap, and made a pork verde stew in the crockpot. they said we might have a white christmas this year, but we didn't see any snow....but it was on it's way!

we woke up to a blanket of snow on the 26th. so exciting! there was probably 4 inches on the ground and we got another ~2 over the course of the day. 

  

just when i thought our christmas decorations couldn't look any more magical, the snow proved me wrong. 

  

the kids wanted to go out and play in it with the neighbors asap, so we did. only downside was the wind was whipping which made it rather uncomfortable, even when bundled up. but it sure was pretty! 

  

 

after a couple hours in the snow, the kids played inside with sisi and thelonious for the rest of the day. and simone slept over at our house for the first time ever. azalea was so excited.

 today is a work day for thatcher and me and then tomorrow we are heading to a VRBO cabin a couple hours away for 4 nights to ring in the new year.