Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!!

A peaceful night was had at the Giffin household until a chorus of “What the he** is going on?” broke out when we looked outside to see… Guess. Oh, please guess. What could it be? More snow!

The next thing to happen was a call from Grammie, Bapa, and Auntie Amy saying that they weren’t sure when they were going to be able to get over to our place (they don’t have any snow equipment: snow tires, chains, four wheel drive, etc., and they live on a pretty gnarly hill) and to start Christmas without them. Well Pete decided that was just the worst idea ever, so after watching the kids open their stockings and Santa gifts…

And getting some much needed love to sustain him…

Santa Pete set out in his 4 Runner sleigh to pick up the family. During his 2 hour journey (normally 10 minutes each way) the kids did a great job of not going too stir crazy with all those presents just waiting to be opened. We took some more family photos…

 

 Had a snack and watched Kung Fu Panda the Furious Five…

 

And practiced Grinch face.

Until, happy day, Pete arrived back with Grammie, Bapa, and Auntie Amy! The whole fam damily together for Christmas. We had some breakfast, got some more family photos..

And then… finally…  PRESENTS!!!!! A pretty normal but insanely huge haul for Kate.

Jake digging the groove of his new guitar. (Maybe he will stop stealing Daddy’s )

And the requisite aftermath of Kate in the paper.

A wonderful day of family, fun, and food was had here in the PNW. We hope that your holiday was a time of togetherness and joy!

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

Kate wanted me to make sure that you all knew, in case there were any lingering questions, that Santa is real. Not only is he real, he made it to our house last night. Here is your proof.

Santa’s cookies and juice are well taken care of. The carrots have been removed for the reindeer. And all of our stockings are plentifully stocked.

Merry Christmas! And long live the joys of childhood.

Christmas Eve 2008

As many of you know or have heard, the Pacific North West has been hit with record snowfall and we are currently living in an officially called ”state of emergency” waiting for the snow to melt and the flooding to commence.  Just to give you a sense of the weirdness for us, Candice took this photo of our roofline shortly after the blizzard and high winds swept through. We feel like we’re living in the Alps.

Luckily we are all fine but it has made Christmas parties and family plans a bit more difficult to carry out. Tricia and Roo joined us early on Christmas Eve to make sure they could make it over in all the snow. We had to leave their car down the hill at the local PCC parking lot (this sounds so reminiscint of Candice’s family Christmases growing up) as there was no place to put their car with all the snow drifts at our house. But once they arrived the cookie baking, snowball fight, snowbear building fun commenced.

Here are Auntie Tricia and Kate fueling up to go outside and wreak havoc.

What would I pay to know what Jacob is plotting in this shot?

Let the snowball fight commence!

Auntie Tricia got some good shots of her own off.

And then the snowbear construction got underway. Snowbear you ask? Yes, Kate decided that a snowman would be too common place.

With the days outdoor festivities complete and the cookies baked we prepared for Santa’s arrival. Kate and Jake did the last day of the chocolate tree.

 

Cookies were put out for Santa and everyone got ready for bed.

Sleep well everyone!

“A lot of people like snow…

I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.” — Carl Reiner

I agree with Mr. Reiner but Kate and Jake are loving the snow and only hate the fact that it has us as homebound as we have been. I believe they’ve decided that Mom and Dad are the ultimate in boring after being stuck with us for 5 days. So, to alleviate their pain, I decided to brave the roads and deliver them to Tim and Lisa’s. Here are Kate and Jake, dressed and ready to go, mere moments after I made them the offer.

Kate and Jake spent a wonderful day playing with Rachel (another brave soul whose parents made it through the snow), Tim, and Lisa. And they are much happier for the fact that they got to interact with someone other than us.

Now they only have to wait a day or two more until they get to see family. Let’s hope the recharge will allow them to make it.

Jane Fonda has nothing on Miss V

For those of you who know Victoria, you will love this! For those of you who still need an intro, let me give you the quick back story.

So Victoria, or Miss V, is Peter’s and my group trainer. She started working with Pete years ago and picked me up as a client after Jacob was born. She is an amazing powerhouse of a personality and anyone who can motivate Pete into working out is worth her weight in gold. She is also notorious for her winter boot camp. After our fall quarter session and in prep for the all the holiday calories we consume, Victoria has kindly come up with the work out week from hell that she affectionately calls boot camp. It is 5 days of very intense work out, or for the wimps like me, 3 days of  the mini camp.

This year I signed up thinking how nice it will be to get in some good work outs before the new year. Well, my health and the weather have decided that this is not a good idea. Monday I didn’t go because I wasn’t feeling well and Wednesday on has been canceled due to snow. So Victoria, the wonderful motivator that she is, recommended that her clients at least get out and play with the kids or shovel snow. Snow shoveling it is and Pete even joined in. Here is Pete’s work out for the morning.

And mine.

What could be more frustrating than Seattle sports? Meteorologists!

This blog may not make sense to all but for those of you who know how well Pete and I tolerate fools, it will be crystal clear.

So yesterday, was supposed to be this extreme and utter nightmare blizzard. Starting at 11am and contintuing through the evening commute, we were going to see the deluge. The kind of storm we never see. The kind that makes people abandon their cars and walk miles upon miles. The kind that caused almost every King county school district to close in anticipation of how bad the commute home was going to be. The outcome? In Seattle and King County, nary a snow flake hit the ground until 6:30pm. We kept the kids home for nothing.

Then the news reports started last night about how King County will finally see a bit of snow today. Reports ranged from a trace to the brave ones saying possibly up to 4 inches. And the kicker is that the snow showers would taper off over the afternoon becoming intermitent and definitely stop by 4pm.

Here is a photo of the table to give an idea of how much snow we’ve gotten (Pete measured it at over 8 inches).

And here is the last photo I took just before dark (approximately 4:30pm). If you can’t tell, it’s still snowing! As it has been constantly all day!

Don’t get me wrong. I understand the concept that meteorology is an intrepetive science at best and I would dare say more of an art form. But let me tell you, our meteorologists are idiots as not a single one of them will acknowledge anything along those lines!

Tastes like burning?

Let’s see. What’s the easiest way to make my son cry? Is it a time out? Taking away his favorite toy? Refusing him milk? On a day like today, all you have to do is make him touch snow.

I don’t know if this is a common childhood fear but both of my children have grown up needing to adjust to both snow and grass. The first time I put Kate in the snow the drama was insane. The only thing it rivaled? Putting her barefoot on the grass. You would have thought I was removing a limb with the screams and the obvious terror.

And my son… No different! Here is Jake’s reaction to a fully bundled (think Christmas Story and poor little Randy after his mother gets done with him) first encounter with snow.

I pick him up from the snow and he immediately stops crying. Not only does he have no after effects of the trauma but he doesn’t want to go back inside. Safe in Mommy’s arms he is adamant that we not return inside. A walk through the whole neighborhood on top of Mom’s shoulders finally seems to satisfy the need to survey the snow but ask him if he wants down and you get an immediate “No. No. No.” We’ll have to wait and see if he likes it any better next year.

Holiday Decorating, Part 3

As promised, I wanted to provide the follow up to the final decorating stage that the house has undergone, the tree.

We spent a lovely morning in the mud, but luckily no rain, with Grammie and Bapa picking out the perfect tree. Pete did a heroic job getting the tree in the stand and the house all by himself. Then applied the lights with Kate’s assistance and turned the tree over to the ladies for decorating. That wasn’t necessarily the original intention but we couldn’t get Jake to stop trying to pull the tree down or throw ornaments, so Pete and Jake hung out while Kate and I decorated.

Here is the final product on its own.

And then with my favorite hams.

Kate’s favorite time of year

Kate was explaining to me the other day that this is her favorite time of the year, outside of Easter, her birthday, and Halloween! I am very glad that my daughter is able to have so much joy in her life and she constantly reminds me of what’s important in all this. Having a joyful life with those I love.

So I truly hope you are having an incredible, joyful, and fun holiday season with those you love!

O’ Chocolate Tree, O’ Chocolate Tree. How lovely are your goodies!

I don’t think there is a single thing about Christmas, other than the waiting for it to get here, that my daughter doesn’t like. And this year she has a prodigee that she is educating in all the grand and finer details of what she loves about Christmas. The topic this night? The chocolate tree.

Now for those of you who know Advent calendars by their proper name, I do apologize. But my daughter of course loves her Advent calendar best because it is one of those you can stock with goodies for each of the 24 days and so in this house that means chocolate.

And now for the education. We have Kate showing of the chocolate tree to Jacob.

And since nothing is done well that is only done once, again Kate shows off the tree for her viewers.

Kate explaining to Jacob that you only need find the date on the tree and that’s the box you open.

Next she very kindly hands both pieces of chocolate to Jacob and he revels in his newly found treasure.

And then the love!