Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells….

I have been doing some off and on running. I really hate that I get out of the routine or out of the groove so sometimes I sign up for races as a goal to get me motivated. Once I paid for it, I have to do it.  I have some co-workers that I have made a connection with who are starting to run or who have been there just like me. So a few of us decided we would do the Jingle Bell run in Seattle. It’s a really fun run and only a 5k (3.1 miles) so it would be easy to train for. Most of them were doing well over that anyway. Well after all that I was left to do the race alone.  As some of you may know my sister and her hubby are big time runners. They even work for a running company. Tina is way out of my league but she is one of my biggest supporters. We don’t run together often but when I called her and begged that she come with me to Seattle and run she agreed.

Thank you so much T for joining me on this run. It was fun to run and chat with you along with a few thousand of our closest friends. You really are a great support to me and I appreciate you giving up your time to come with me. P.S I still owe you breakfast. That doughnut doesn’t count!

Christmas Lights

This year we wanted to get out and see some of the Christmas lights all around. My Mom found this park in Bellevue, Bellevue Botanical Gardens, that puts lights up all around kind of like zoo lights only in a park setting. They’re open evenings for the public to come view them so we headed out there to show Paytyn. She has been really excited even just seeing houses in our neighborhood so I knew she would love it. It was super cold out so we bundled up good and tight.

Paytyn and Nana checking out the lights.

Some of the amazing lights.

Paytyn really liked this monkey hanging out in the tree.

Now that we were completely frozen we headed to Lake Washington to have a yummy dinner at Ivars. We did eat the fish inside instead of on the waterfront.

More Parties and Christmas Jammies

As you know this is the time of year for parties, parties and more parties. We had great opportunities to wear all of Paytyn’s fancy dresses. The second party we attended was the youth Christmas banquet. Every year the junior high and high school students get dressed up, put on a talent show and get served dinner by their leaders. They also bring a gift to support a local ministry to children who might not be so fortunate. It was fun to watch some of the talent these students have. Sometimes you would never have known what they were hiding.

Paytyn watching a little Dora while we waited to eat. Sitting like a lady of course.

The last party we attended was my Mom’s company party. They gear it towards families and kids and have tons of toys and activities, Santa photos, and a nice dinner. Santa didn’t go over as well as we thought but Paytyn had a blast with the other activities.

Playing in the balloon room.

Trying to catch the ’snow’ that is falling from the ceiling.

I think it will be even more fun for her next year when she can really run around.

Every year since I was in college I think, my mom has bought Christmas jammies for my sister and I. Every year in December I pull them all out and wear them for the month. We are getting quite the collection. Last year Paytyn got her first pair and now her collection begins to grow.

Here she is in this years pair decorating the Christmas cards. Yes, the cards you received with some pretty pictures on the back was Paytyn’s way of saying Merry Christmas. I got this idea from a friend who gives her kids a chance to help and at the same time a fun activity when you can’t get out.

Hope you’re all enjoying this exciting season.

Fun times with (Great) Grandma and Grandpa

Some of the best memories I have is making pancakes with my grandpa. He let me stand on a chair in the kitchen and help make the batter. Then my grandma would fry and egg and make some bacon. Then we’d eat the pancakes, topped with the egg with warm maple syrup on top with a side of bacon. The only time I really like bacon is when my grandma makes it. One of those family traditions/memories I wanted Paytyn to experience before too much time went by. So she and I headed to my grandparents house for a little overnighter.  First we had a little fun playing in the ‘tent’.

My grandma also wanted to make some cookies that her mom used to bake. She calls them sandbakkles. They come out looking like little individual pies but to get them that way you have to stuff the little tins and then try to get them out without breaking them. The recipe makes about 100 and we only have 30 of the tins my great-grandma really liked to use. So it takes forever and we got quite frustrated. But it was really fun to make them together and they are really quite yummy so we enjoyed eating the broken ones.

Paytyn helping us with her own tin and dough.

Enjoying a sandbakkel.

Here are Paytyn and my grandpa making the very yummy breakfast I mentioned.

Sitting down to eat the delicious food. She ate two pancakes, a scrambled egg and some bacon. Nothing like breakfast at grandma and grandpa’s.

This video is a little long but it’s super funny (my personal opinion). Paytyn likes to ‘hide’ in her blanket (tent) and have you find her.

I hope we have many more times like this. It was really fun to watch my grandparents interact with Paytyn. I can’t wait for her to experience more fun memories with them.

Christmas Trees and Parties

We love getting a real Christmas tree and filling our house with the pine fresh scent. Last year Paytyn was too small to really care but this year we wondered how she would do with the tree and all the decorations. She was very excited to help decorate the house and we showed her the things that were ok to touch and the ‘pretty’ decorations that she was to just look at. She has actually done very well. She loves seeing the snowmen and Santas all around. So we decided to venture out for the tree. We wanted to just get it done and tried our local Home Depot. To our surprise there were not too many to choose from. So after waiting  a few days we went to the tree farm/nursery we got our tree from last year. It’s a great little place that has pre-cut or you cut. We went on a week day and made the quickest tree shopping trip ever in my life. Two trees and we found the ‘perfect’ one. Got it home and up with beautiful lights and ribbon to make is sparkle. All while Paytyn slept. She was so excited when she woke up to see it. She went right over to it to investigate. We explained that you can’t touch but you can look and even smell the tree.

Every year our church holds a one of a  kind Christmas party called the Black and White gala. Complete with a swing band and beautiful tables all decorated with candles. Everyone brings an appetizer to share and it’s a night of dancing and lots of goodies. They even have a little kid party where they have their own dinner and fun activities. Before we left to take a very sleepy girl to her bed we had to get her out on the dance floor. She loved the music and dancing with Mommy and Daddy.

We had quite a stretch of cold weather here about a week ago. It got into single digits in some places at night and a high of the 30’s during the day. All that with no snow and sunny skies. Now it’s back to 50’s and rain. We are still holding out for some snow to play in. But with all the cold weather Paytyn got really into putting on her gloves. Here she is playing in her rain boots (under the blanket), gloves and wanting to be wrapped up. What a silly girl. I love it!

Thanksgiving Oregon Style

We decided to head to Nick’s parents’ house (Oma and Opa’s house) for Thanksgiving this year. We left about noon on Tuesday and were able to stay until Saturday morning. It was going to be just the five of us this year. Nick’s sister Erin and family were with her inlaws and Elissa had to work. We still had a great time though with some very tasty food and even got to see Elissa on Friday.

Oma always has something new to play with and of course different toys are always a hit. Paytyn coloring us a pretty picture.

She likes to wrap up in blankets. She got herself all wrapped up and lay down like she was going to sleep. Such a silly girl.

Despite a slight fear of this clown (maybe passed on by her mom) she constantly asked where this clown was and wanted to play with it. By the end of the week she was holding down the lid, turning the handle and saying “Clown scared you” when it popped up.

Oma is a great piano player. She was gracious enough to sit down and let Paytyn ‘play’ with her.

Trying out different piano playing positions.

Notice her feet. Yes, she is on her tip toes while squatting.

Singing ‘The Wheels on the Bus’

Playing so focused? (Notice the tongue)

On Friday when Elissa came to visit we exchanged gifts since we won’t get to see them at Christmas. We didn’t open anything but Elissa wanted to give Paytyn just one. She got a Dora dvd that has been a big hit. Thank you Aunt Elissa!

We had a really good time away and spent with family. It’s always hard to come back to reality. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving as well.

Baked Sweet Potato Sticks

So before I get started with the good stuff (food pics and recipe) I want to say I vow to do better at blogging. I always feel like I have to have some fantastic pictures and something really great to share but I realized you all just want to see Paytyn and you could care less about what I write In a good way I know. So I will try and do better. Thanks for those of you who have nudged me.

So onto the goodies. I was feeling like we should try some new things this fall. My sister had mentioned she made sweet potato fries one night so I gave it a try.  It just takes a little olive oil, and some paprika. The recipe I used calls for 1 Tablespoon olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon paprika with 8 sweet potatoes sliced lengthwise in quarters. I only used 1 potato cause it was just Paytyn and I. I made the sticks smaller in fry shapes. Then just used oil to coat and sprinkled paprika. Then you cook them in a 400 degree oven for 40 min. My sister-in-law suggested broil at the end just for a bit to get them crispy. I’ll have to try that next time. They were so tasty, and Paytyn loved them.

Enjoy! I would love other ideas for the fall. Bring on the new recipes.

Halloween 2009

Halloween was a little different for us this year. (Same with the pumpkin patch trip. Guess we are learning to go with the flow this year.) We had planned to go to my grandparents house again and take our traditional Jack-O-Lantern pizza along for a nice visit. But unfortunately we all got a little cold this week and didn’t want to pass it on. By Saturday evening we were all doing pretty well but didn’t want to risk it and took another day to rest and make sure we were healthy.

We decided to just stay in and have a day of rest and a little Halloween fun. I made a crockpot of spiced cider and after Paytyn’s nap we carved our pumpkins.

I wasn’t sure how Paytyn would do with the pumpkin guts. She wasn’t too sure but she did get in there a few times. Then she was done and wanted ‘Mommy do it’ with her help by holding the scraper.

One of us always does the Oregon pumpkin. This year was especially important since the Ducks were playing on Halloween against USC. We killed them.

The finished products.

Our traditional Jack-O-Lantern pizza.

My two cute Duck fans watching the game. And if you’re wondering if Paytyn is really a Duck fan, absolutely she is. She knows when football is on and she loves to jump up and down and yell ‘Go Ducks, Go Ducks!’

We finally got Paytyn into her costume for a few pictures. If you don’t recognize her, she is Dora the Explorer. We couldn’t find the plain black wig in kids size so this is what we ended up with.  And as you guessed it, it didn’t stay on long at all. But that’s ok, we got a few pics and she looks better blonde anyway.

We had a great day of rest mixed with a little Hallween fun while watching our Ducks play an amazing game. Can’t wait for all the fun to be had next year.

Look what I can do

Paytyn can now drink using a straw. Yes, according to doctors she might be a little late with this one but everyone gets there eventually right. We tried for a long time to get her to do it but she just wouldn’t. So I finally just knew she’d do it when she was ready. Last weekend we had a short visit with my parents and they took us out for dinner. The waitress brought her a cup of water with a straw. I wasn’t sure she’d do it but we gave it a try. It was ice water so it took her by surprise at first but then she just kept doing it. I was so stinking proud of her. And she seemed pretty proud of herself too. The next day we had to get a few new cups of course. (we needed them anyway) Now for her next trick, Paytyn will be learning to drink without a lid. I am not sure I am ready for that mess yet.

Chuckanut Drive

Every year Nick and I have taken a drive about an hour north to Bellingham/Fairhaven via Chuckanut drive. We do this drive in the Fall because the trees are amazing if you can hit it at just the right time. We have been too late and even missed it last year because we weren’t sure how a squirming little one would handle all that sitting. This year we hit it perfect. The colors were amazing! First, we headed to Western Washington University to get some Chick-fil-A and then took a brief walk around town before heading home via Chuchanut. The road is narrow so most of the photos were taken from in the car but you can still see the amazing colors.

I-5 on the way up.

Fairhaven

Chuckanut Drive