western kegels pre-christmas

Thank goodness Elizabeth needed to deliver a bunch of cookies to Cynthia because it gave us all an excuse to have dinner and a little Christmas cheer. Kolbe, Cynthia(David was sick), and Elizabeth all made the trek to Anacortes for some fun music and food.

Elizabeth helps Logan make beaded bracelets for his cousins and his class secret Santa.

Day After Thanksgiving

I have so many pictures of this very pose... cousins on the couch, watching cable(we don't have it at home).

Annual trip to Alan Acres in Stanwood to get our Christmas tree. This is the first year, in the history of the world, I think, that we didn't freeze or get dumped with snow or rain.

Thanksgiving at Oma's and Opa's

Many cooks do NOT spoil the broth at Oma's. Everyone helped to make this a wonderful feast and good time. The cousins played until they dropped, and the adults ate until they couldn't walk. Then, as per our annual tradition, we headed to Alan Acres farm to get our tree the day after Thanksgiving. And Logan and Michael even made it on the evening news.

hayride!

We made our annual trek east of the mountains for the great hayride. Now that the boys are in school, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to make it, but Brian and I took time off, and the kids survived missing a day of school. As always, we were not disappointed. Cutting roasting sticks down at Uncle Erne's is always a highlight. Gramma's chili, a close second, and Debbie's hot chocolate "secret" takes third. Yes, we love the hayride!

More halloween... finally

Well, I'm finally getting around to updating this b log. We had a great Halloween(if memory serves. Trick-or-treating downtown with our friends Jay and Marcia and their kids. The school Halloween parade added to the fun. Michael ended up taking his mask off after about 5 minutes, though, because his classmates kept punching him in the face. Guess they wanted to see what it felt like?