Christmas photos

 I kept debating this year whether I wanted to take the kids in to get professional photos done or not and use them for the Christmas card.  Life just got too busy, so I thought I would just sit the kids down in their Christmas outfits and see if anything turned out.  I was thrilled with sweet and good they were for the pictures. 

Ellie is not forgotten

 Our sweet little Ellie is just about 9 months old.  She is a little mover.  She has gotten really good at sitting and rolling and moving around on her belly to get to toys.  Now she has also just barely learned how to crawl!  She was suppose to wait until after Christmas so our Christmas tree doesn't get destroyed by our curious little girl. :)  She has such a fun, sweet personality.  I love all her expressions.  She loves to babble now, especially at the dinner table when she hears everyone else talking.  Noise level at dinner time at our house can be defening these days.  We contemplated recording it so we can look back and laugh one day when we're empty-nesters. 

 Above, isn't a full "Ellie scowl" but it's pretty close.  She loves to give people her meanest look and then eventually smile big (if it's someone she likes).  It's like she's trying to let you know who is really in charge.

Oregon Coast in Nov

When had Thanksgiving dinner with my cousin Patrice and her family who don't live very far away from us. We have loved getting to live closer to them and had a great time eating a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at their home.

The day after Thanksgiving we took a trip to the coast.  This time we went a little more north to Seaside.  I think the coast here is just beautiful.  The weather turned out to be really quite pleasant especially for November.  The funny thing is the temperature outside seemed similar to when we visited the coast in Aug (I think it rarely gets really warm on the coast out here). 

Tori and James above are standing by the statue marking the stop where Lewis and Clark finished their journey across the US.  I loved that all the moving we have done has let us visit some really cool sites and really get to know a lot of different parts of our country.  It's a beautiful place.

Above Tori is flying one of the mini kites we bought for her and James.

Ellie also enjoyed flying/eating the kite.

The wind at times made is a little chilly, so Ellie and I warmed each other up.

Nothing like playing in the ocean and sand wearing your winter coat.

We also took the kids to the small, very interesting/slight scary aquarium they had in town.  Tori is standing next to a cage full of seals that you can feed.  There was also a large octopus in an open tank in the middle of the room, and lots of other interesting fish in this sort of dark one room aquarium.

Near the end of the day we found a beach that you could drive your car on and parked our car to watch the sun set over the ocean.  A very fun day.

After this, we drove up to Astoria (where the movie Goonies was filmed) and had a late dinner.  On the drive up I kept commenting on all the Elk Crossing signs we were passing.  John and I both chatted about how we had never actually seen an elk, then all of a sudden the cars in front of us stopped fast and a heard of elk bounded across the road 50 ft in front of us.  Unfortunately, a car two cars in front of us actually hit one of the elk and was banged up pretty bad.  Everyone was fine, though, including the elk.

Costco Santa

Santa came to Costco this year.  Instead of braving the crowds at the mall we had fun visiting Santa after hours at Costco.  Tori and Ellie hoped right on his lap.  James, however, didn't want much to do with him at all.  We finally bribed him with a candy cane to just go stand next to Santa for a picture.  It worked out pretty well, since I don't think Santa could have fit them all on his lap at one time. :)

We stopped by the outdoor mall near our house to walk around until Santa was going to be at Costco.  Tori and James were really cute on the playground.  James would only go down the slide if he could sit with Tori.  James sure loves his big sister.

Below is a picture of Santa visiting our church Christmas party.  James again wanted nothing to do with him and wouldn't even go near him.  Tori has always been up for sitting on Santa's lap ever since she was tiny.  She's always excited to go see Santa, but she always gets really serious and shy when she is actually near him, especially is Santa tries to talk to her.

Random Pictures

 Here are a few random pictures we took in November.  Tori wanted me to take a picture of the play dough bed she made and the block bed she made.

 Always fun to sit with Dad.

Tori's 1st grade school photo.

 My neighbors growing up sent the kids some things which included this really cute little penguin for Ellie.  It is now named the "Ellie penguin".  Ellie is having fun with it, but James has gotten really attached to it.  When he can't find it he does around saying, "Where's my Ellie penguin?"  It's sweet how gentle he treats it and talks to it.  Maybe it's big blue eyes remind him of Ellie.

 More cute Ellie.

Ellie doesn't do anything super impressive or amazing in this video - I just am trying to take more video of her since I don't think  pictures capture all of her cuteness. :)

Fun Grandma Katie pictures

Here are a few of the great pictures Grandma Katie took while she was here.

Love the huge tree in the background (look at where the tops of the homes are compared with the tree)!  The trees here are just amazing!

Our little monkey - Tori's awesome at the monkey bars!

I love the beautiful leaves in our neighborhood and on the walk to and from school.  Above the kids are filling bags with leaves - we went on a leaf hunt on our walk home from school.

If I bite this thumb hard enough maybe my teeth will come in faster.

Love James's silly smile.

World Forestry Center

While Grandma Katie was visiting we went to the World Forestry Center.  It was really interesting and the kids found lots of fun things to explore.  Ellie was a sweet little one exploring her stroller. :)

James wasn't too thrilled with the raft.

Here we are inside a large train outside the center.  James had had enough for one day, poor kid.