Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas day. Jack woke us all up at 7:30 am to see what Santa had brought. The kids got some great stuff and enjoyed looking at everything. Mom came over and we had a big breakfast. Then we were able to play some of the games we got for Christmas. Scrabble Slam was a favorite. Around noon we left for Eugene to visit the Fultons. The kids got to play and the adults got to visit and get a wonderful dinner ready. We had a little fire in the Fulton oven which led to some laughs. We left in the evening and I was ready to come back to Eugene the next day for shopping with the girls. I love Christmas traditions.

Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve. Doug's parents and my mom came over. Wayne was excited to see the new truck we got just a few days earlier. We had a delicious ham dinner and then the kids were VERY excited to open presents. It seems like they just get more excited every year. We played some games including a bowling/golf wii tournament that Jack had wooden medals prepared for. It was a great day and we made sure to leave out cookies and milk for Santa the next day.

Zoo lights

Every year we go to the Oregon zoo for zoolights. It is definitely a favorite holiday tradition. This year we made sure we got there early enough so we could get in the train line. We had to wait but it was worth it.We also enjoyed the monkeys:) Although the monkey didn't enjoy us quite as much this year. Ellie and I loved watching the baby elephant who is now over 3. On the way home we stopped at Red Robin for dinner. Zoolights always makes it feel like Christmas.

A tiny glimpse at December

As the kids have gotten older I have definitely gotten worse at taking pictures. Sometimes I just feel like there is too much else to think about. Our last week of school was filled with a swim meet, gingerbread houses in Ellie's class and just trying to get everything done. Doug and I enjoyed a fun staff Christmas party on the Friday before vacation.

Getting our Christmas tree

We were able to get our Christmas tree on the second weekend in December. It was a little later than we usually get it due to the swim meet. This was the first year we needed to buy a tree in 10 years. We were able to find a u-cut place a couple miles from our house that was reasonable. It was a cold and foggy Saturday but the getting the tree was lots of fun!

Travel Meet

In September Ellie moved to a competitive swim team. It is a much different swimming experience. She has had a few challenges along the way, but in the end it has been a great experience for her. She swims 4-5 times a week at a much more intense level than she used to. In December her team planned a travel meet to Longview WA and of course Ellie wanted to go. I went to but she had to stay as part of the team. In fact I didn't spend that much time with her. I enjoyed watching her swim. She swam some races that were really out of her comfort zone(200IM and 100 breast) and did great. She was able to beat some of her times, but not others. But mostly she had a really good bonding experience with her teammates(they even went to the hotel pool after 9 hours at the pool for the meet). They cheered for every Bearcat in every race. She came home tired, but happy. It was fun to watch her begin to develop that independence.