Christmas Day

 Christmas morning we slept in until 8 am then Aubrey and I Skyped with my parents and Darren's family so we could watch the kids open some presents. Aubrey opened two to tie her over until Jared got home from work at 3pm. Timing worked out well as she woke up as Jared walked in the door and then we could all open presents together.

 Santa brought Aubrey lots of presents and we gave her this tricycle and the rocking horse. I wanted to spray paint this tricycle as we bought it used for $4 but it's been too cold out to do it now. I also got the rocking horse for $3, so it was great to get a big impact gift for so little! She can't quite reach the pedals, another inch or so but she loves bikes so much!

 She likes to sit on the back step instead of the seat, then she can push with her feet.

 Santa brought her a wooden train set and a Crayola no mess paint set.

Opening the stocking

Sorry they are a little long.

Jared and Santa

At the kids party at Jared's work Aubrey wouldn't go within 5 feet of Santa, so Jared sat on his lap for a photo and this is the outcome! You think Santa could have cooperated a little better for the photo!

Christmas Eve

 

We had some friends over for dinner so this was our main turkey dinner for the holidays.

 We made rosemary yorkshire pudding, but they didn't rise very well.

None of us ate very much so we have lots of leftovers for tonight. It's nice to not have to cook on Christmas Day, just relax and not have to worry about anything. I might want to always do Christmas Eve dinner instead of Christmas Day!

Sewing Project

Today I spent most of the day doing laundry. I had to wash all my material, our new bed duvet and the thrift shop toys and clothes. I think I did almost $10 worth of laundry. But now that is done I could actually start sewing. I made 3 pillow cases for throw pillows for the couch, 2 pillows for Aubrey's bed plus a blanket and 2 pillow cases. I still have one large body pillow case to sew to put across the back of Aubrey's bed so we can sit on it like a couch since it's a day bed style.

 Above: the two pillows for Aubrey's bed and the blanket which I used the chenille white blanket I found at the Goodwill for one side and a flannel sheet set I used for the other side.

 The reverse side of the pillows

Almost all the boxes have been unpacked. Just a few books to unpack but we can't do that until the Christmas tree is moved and the bookshelf is in it's place, so for now they are stashed in our bedroom.
Some photos still have to go up on the walls and other then that we have finished unpacking.
We still have some more furniture to buy: all our bedroom furniture and dining chairs. We bought a new table but are still using the patio chairs until we buy new ones. I wish we could buy them this week as we are having friends over for dinner on Christmas Eve!

We are having Jared's old mission companion and his family (Jeff & Corey) over for a full turkey dinner on Christmas Eve, so that will be nice to finally have someone visit our new place now that everything is cleaned up. Corey was nice enough to baby sit for us last Monday so we could go see Christmas Story the Musical at a theatre downtown. It was really well down, very professional. Just as good as anything we've seen on Broadway. The little boy who played Ralphie did a great job and is an amazing singer for a boy of 11. When we picked Aubrey up afterwards she was asleep half on their couch and half on the ottoman. She had a great time playing with their two boys and decorating gingerbread cookies.

Some more finds

I know I share everything I buy, but it's been a while and I just went thrift shopping tonight.
I found a vintage Fisher Price camera and I had to have it. (similar to the photo above). It still works and is well used but I thought it would be great up on a shelf in Aubrey's room. I love old toys.
I also found some great toys for Aubrey, a Leapfrog guitar that actually still works for $1.99 and she loves it. I found some toys still in the boxes that I'll give her for Christmas.
I found her the cutest rain jacket and pajamas. Now I have a lot of washing to do and no quarters left...I hate not having a washer and dryer!

Getting Over the Flu

I think we all seemed to forget about H1N1 last fall (at least I did) and didn't think anything about getting a flu shot this year and maybe that's why it's hitting some of so hard?
Jared was sick last week but worked anyways (he's never taken a sick day, and that's how viruses spread!). Then I got sick mid-week with a pretty bad stomach flu that completely cleaned me out and left me pretty weak feeling. My stomach is still a little unsettled. Aubrey has had mild signs but has been pretty happy but restless that she's not getting outside to play!

Christmas Downtown Seattle

 A while back when we were still at the hotel we took a walk downtown just to see all the lights and store windows. The above is then entrance at the hotel.

 The Macy's star.

Nordstrom windows:

Fairmont Children's Christmas Party

 The ball room was all decorated with lots of breakfast foods, craft tables and a stage for Santa to visit on.

 Decorating Christmas ornaments by scratching off the black surface to reveal multi coloured background.

 There was gingerbread decorating on each table. Aubrey bit hers before we could decorate it too much.

 This is Jared's decorating...kind of a Where's Waldo look. We didn't let Aubrey eat this one.

Santa arrived. We slowly brought Aubrey closer to him and tried to get her ok about sitting on his lap, but by the time we got her up on stage, she freaked out and wouldn't even go near him. Instead, Jared sat on Santa's lap and that's the photo they'll be sending us!

He did give Aubrey a great present - a wood puzzle that had magnets on each insect that you can pick up with a magnet net.

Before and After

 This is the only before photo from my camera phone of the bathroom when we moved in.

After painting the entire bathroom, and getting rid of the old chipped mirror made a big difference!